The Hardest Thing
by screaming-madman
Summary: Harry and friends have destroyed all of the Horcrux's and now set their sights on Voldemort himself, but how to do it? This story takes us through the discovery of what makes Harry unique and why killing is the hardest thing. On Hiatus as I try to figure out how to fix some things I don't like. HarryGinny RonHermione
1. Chapter 1

THE HARDEST THING

_First the usual disclaimer, these characters belong to a very creative young woman by the name of J.K. Rowling. I don't even lay claim to the idea because it's an old one on this site, just my version.___

_This story takes place shortly after the events of HBP. Harry and friends have tracked down the last of the Horcruxes and Harry has managed to stay true to his desire to remain apart from Ginny. Ron and Hermione have allowed their relationship to blossom. As this story opens Harry is standing at Dumbledore's gravesite wondering what to do next. _

The tomb looked exactly as it did that day two months ago when its occupant was laid to rest. The months without him had taken a severe toll on the boy who stood there silently. He had done as the old wizard had asked; he had tracked down all of the remaining Horcruxes and destroyed them. Only one task remained and he had no clue how to begin that one. He knew that he had to do it alone though, he had always known that. He also knew that when it was over he would no longer be the boy who lived. He would either be a savior or the boy who died.

As he stood there thinking he suddenly felt like he was no longer alone.

"He was a good man, and I hated him for it."

Harry just stood there with his back turned to the familiar voice. He never thought he'd hear that voice again, and now that he had he didn't feel the way he thought he would.

"Take it easy Potter, I'm not here to fight. I don't even have my wand with me."

"If you didn't come to fight Draco, why did you come? Did you come to weep over the grave, or to desecrate it?" Harry's voice was firm and commanding, but did not betray an ounce of the hatred he was feeling. His mind instantly raced back to that faithful night in the tower when his mentor had died. He would never forget the look on Draco's face, he didn't want to be there. Harry remembered the hopeless expression that Draco wore as he struggled with his conscience about what he was trying to do.

"I deserve that. I guess I deserve a lot worse. I've been told that you were there in the tower that night. Snape told me that you saw the entire exchange between the old man and me. Part of me wishes you hadn't, but part of me is glad you did. I couldn't do it, and you know that."

Harry turned around and faced the boy he had hated for so long, and saw someone else. Oh it was Draco alright, but not the confident jerk he had known. The person who stood before him was almost unrecognizable. He had a gash on his right cheek that ran from the corner of his mouth all the way to his ear. His usually well kept blonde hair was unwashed and needed combing. His clothes were rags, and he was skeletally thin. But the biggest change in this young man was in his eyes, he was defeated. You can always tell the condition of a person's soul by looking into their eyes.

"What's the matter Draco, Voldemort didn't forgive your failure?" Harry asked bitterly.

"That's a stupid question Potter. The Dark Lord forgives nothing. He tortured me for over a month before I escaped. I've been hiding here, in the forest, ever since."

"If you've been hiding, go back to it. I don't need to fight you, you're already beaten."

"I told you already Potter I'm not here to fight. I know where you can find him, and I have something that should be returned to you."

Harry looked at him for a long time. Why would Draco come out of hiding to help him? Was this a trap?

"How do I know this isn't a trap? You could be sending me into the hands of dozens of death eaters instead of leading me to Voldemort. Why should I trust you?"

"I am leading you into the hands of dozens of Death Eaters. You don't really think he'll ever be alone do you? Not while you're still alive. He's scared of you Potter, he knows you're coming and he doesn't know what you're bringing with you. He knows about the rest of the prophesy. My father told me, and he's worried about this whole power the dark lord knows not thing. I can't just hand him to you, but I can get you close."

"What's the other thing you're talking about then?" Harry asked.

"When I escaped from him the first place I went was to my father's house. When your parents died my father went to your parents' house to see for himself if it was true. While he was there he found something that belonged to your mother." Draco stopped there and looked toward the lake. When he spoke again it was almost a whisper. "I remember when I was a child my father used to tell me what a great man The Dark Lord was, how he had tried to purify our race with his greatness. Then he would show me this." Draco reached into his pocket and took out a small emerald green crystal attached to a gold chain. "He would tell me about you and your parents. He hated them. He told me that he had never seen your mother not wearing this pendant and that I should always remember when I looked at it, how even the best laid out plans could fail." He took the pendant and tossed it to Harry who of course caught it easily.

"If you still want to find him, and I hope you do, go to the old orphanage just east of London. I've been told he grew up there, now it's his headquarters. Good luck Potter, I hope everybody was right about you."

Draco turned and walked back into the forest.

Harry was confused. He finally knew where to find Voldemort, but didn't know where to go from there. There have only been two people he would have gone to for advice in a situation like this and they were both dead now; Dumbledore and Sirius. Well, if he couldn't talk to Dumbledore, he would just haft to find the next best thing.

Ron was exhausted. The Burrow was never a quiet place but lately it had been absolutely deafening. It was bad enough with Fleur running around the house trying to clean things after his mom and Ginny always crying about Harry. On top of that his father was coming and going at all hours on ministry business and it seemed like every member of the order thought this was their house and came and went as they pleased. It didn't bother Ron, but he was tired. He smiled to himself as he laid his head down on his pillow and realized that the house was absolutely silent. He should have known it was too good to be true because right after he had this thought there was a soft clicking noise at his window.

"What in the bloody hell is that noise?" He asked himself quietly as he got out of bed and went to investigate.

As he opened the window he looked down and saw Harry standing in the lawn. "Harry, what are you doing, trying to break my window or something?"

"Sorry Ron, it's a muggle thing. Listen come down here. I need to talk to you and I can't face Ginny right now."

"Alright then, wait for me in the garden I'll be down in a minute."

He hated it when Harry would do this sort of thing. He hated what he was doing to his little sister. He understood, but he still hated to see her cry herself to sleep every night.

"What is it Harry, is everything alright?"

"I had a visitor today." Harry replied. "It was Malfoy and he looked terrible. He escaped from Voldemort and has been hiding out in the Forbidden Forest."

"I don't believe it, Malfoy came to see you? Did you fight him?" Ron had always hated that spoiled brat. There was nothing he'd love to see more than Draco getting what he had coming to him.

"That's the thing Ron, he didn't come to fight. He told me where they took him after that night at Hogwarts." Harry then proceeded to tell Ron what he had learned that day concerning Malfoy's treatment at the hands of Voldemort.

"So the little prince finally got what he needed, an attitude adjustment." Ron said this more as a fact than a question. "And he told you where to find Vol…..Vol…..Voldemort?"

"Yes, he did. Now I just need to decide what to do next. Will you do me a favor Ron? Send an owl to Hermione and tell her to meet us here tomorrow night at around this time."  
"Alright mate, but where are you going to go until then?"

"I need to talk to someone tomorrow morning; I'm hoping that he can help answer a few questions that I still have. In the meantime, alright if I get some sleep here? I'll be gone before anybody knows I was here." Naturally by anybody Harry meant Ginny.

"You know you can stay here anytime Harry, but mom will be absolutely furious if she finds out you were here and didn't stay for breakfast. Just don't mention it to her alright?"

Harry grinned, "Not a problem, let's get some sleep."

The next morning Harry woke up before the sun was up. He got dressed and crept down the stairs and almost made it out the door when he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat at the kitchen table.

"Good morning Harry." It was Ginny, the one person he had most hoped to avoid. "You didn't really think that I wouldn't know you were here did you?" She asked with a slightly angry tone to her voice.

"I guess that was too much to hope for wasn't it? How are you Ginny?" Harry asked sincerely. This was the moment he had been dreading for some time. He had somehow managed to avoid it this long, and he had too much to do to deal with it now. He intended to get out as soon as he could.

"Oh I'm just peachy Harry." She said with very obvious and deep sarcasm. "I've just spent the summer wondering if the only boy I ever really loved was going to get himself killed by the craziest bastard to ever walk the earth. On top of that my jerk of a brother won't tell me a thing about what you two and Hermione have been up to. You know that Hermione wouldn't lie to me though, so instead of lying to me, she just quit answering my letters. Let's just say that I've spent most of the summer sitting in my room, alone. How are you?" Again, the sarcasm was laid on so thick that Harry couldn't help but wince.

Harry pulled out a chair from the dinner table and sat down. "Ginny, I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. I don't want to hurt you, but more than that I don't want you to get hurt because of me. We've had this discussion already and I thought you understood. Right now is not the time for this, when everything is over I want to try again if you'll have me but not now." He tried to sound strong and confident but instead it sounded more like a question than a statement. He knew he had made the right decision, but he didn't know how much longer he could sit here with her and remain strong.

"I've been thinking about that day at Professor Dumbledore's funeral all summer. The more I think about the reason you broke up with me the more I'm convinced of one thing Harry, you're not telling me the truth. It just doesn't make sense. You said we couldn't be together because Voldemort would use me against you, do you really think that he doesn't know about us? We made spectacles of ourselves for half of the year last year with Malfoy and all of the other Slytherin's there to see it. If Voldemort doesn't know about us then he isn't half the wizard everybody is making him out to be. If using me to get to you is his plan, what makes you think this will stop him? It just doesn't make sense. Now Harry you're honest with me right now, right here, or it's over and I'm moving on. I can't do this, I deserve better."

All Harry could think of was one word, why? Why did she have to do this to him now, when he's closer than he has ever been to finding Voldemort and ending this whole stupid mess? As he sat there thinking about what she said, he realized that he was becoming angry. He didn't need this.

"Why are you doing this to me Ginny? In case you haven't noticed I'm kind of busy right now. What do you think I've been doing with Ron and Hermione all summer learning how to crochet? I've put my life on the line for the whole world several times and all I get is people questioning my decisions every time I make one and now you're going to join them."

"Oh here we go again with the poor Harry routine. Here's a news flash for you, I'm involved with this thing too. This isn't something that just affects you, this is my life too. I think I have a right to know. I'm sorry if it inconveniences the great Harry Potter for him to talk to a lowly person like me but either you answer the question or leave and don't come back. I mean it Harry." The volume level of the conversation slowly rose until they were basically shouting at each other.

"Fine, you want the truth well here's the truth." Harry was shouting now too. "The truth is I love you. I've never felt this way about anyone before. All I ever think about is you. What are you doing? Where are you? I think about the way you smell. I think about the way your hair flows down your back as you walk. I think about your smile and your laugh and your temper. And the whole time that I'm thinking about this I know that we can't be together until this whole thing with Voldemort is over. I need to concentrate on what I'm doing. How can I do that if I'm spending the time with you that I want to? And another thing, you are the single most stubborn person that I've ever met. If we're together when I go to do this, you'll talk me into taking you with me. If you got hurt during this thing I couldn't deal with that." At this point Harry stopped shouting and started talking at almost a whisper while he was on the verge of tears. "When a person is fighting they have to have something to fight for. My parents are dead. The only family that I have left hates me. You're all I've got. I can't lose you Ginny. If you really do love me, you'll wait for me."

Ginny looked at Harry with tears in her eyes. She slowly walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Harry returned the embrace and kissed her on the head before turning around and walking out the door.

When he closed the door his mind was going a mile a minute. Just as he was thinking he was going to break down and go back inside he noticed Arthur sitting in a chair against the house.

"Good morning Harry."

"Good morning Sir."

"I couldn't help but overhear the two of you. I decided to stay out here and let you finish. Are you alright?"

"I will be Sir."

"Good. I don't know what it is you're doing Harry and I'm not foolish enough to attempt to pursuade you into telling me. I know that whatever it is it must be dangerous though. I want to thank you for not involving Ginny. I know that the two of you have grown to be more than friends and I approve Harry. If you need anything please remember that I am at your disposal day or night."

"I will Sir. Thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: I really should give this chapter a strong language warning. You have been warned.

The old man tending bar had led a very interesting life. He had seen war, peace, fell in love, had children, and buried them. He had been a very influential man once, and then it all fell in on him. All he wanted to do now was grieve his lost opportunities and allow nature to take its course with his age. He knew the world was falling apart around him, he just didn't care.

As he stood there loathing his own pitiful existence, the door opened. It always started opening at about this time and the people who came through it always looked the same. They usually wore dark cloaks with hoods drawn over their faces. It didn't matter if it was 20 degrees or 90; they were almost always completely covered with this miserably hot garment. He had always thought that was a particularly stupid thing for his people to do, they were usually quite bright otherwise. The man came directly to the bar and sat down.

"What can I do for you sir?" He asked as the man sat down.

"Pumpkin Juice will be just fine." The hooded stranger said.

The old man just grunted and turned around. This was not the kind of place where people ordered anything other than fire whiskey. He wasn't even sure if he had any pumpkin juice, but he never asked questions. He also noticed by the voice that this man wasn't a man but a boy. He found an old bottle of juice and served it to the boy.

"I need your help Sir." The boy said.

"I just gave you the juice, I can't think of much else a bartender is supposed to help with. Let me know if you need anything else."

"I do need something else Mr. Dumbledore. I just told you I need your help. I won't leave here until you at least hear me out." The boy lifted the hood of his cloak to reveal a young man that he had seen before, at this bar in fact. He knew before speaking to the young man what he wanted, and that he wouldn't get it.

"Well then Mr. Potter, what can I do for you?"

"You're his brother, he must have confided in you from time to time. I need to know how to kill the, the thing that killed my parents, the thing that killed my Godfather and the thing that had your own brother killed." There was fear in the voice of this young man, and determination.

"You have me mistaken for something I'm not. As much as you may want me to be, I'm not my brother anymore than you are your father. You look just like him, accept you have your mother's eyes. I may look something like my brother, but I'm not him. Don't you think if I could kill Voldemort I would? I'm just a broken down old man serving drinks in a broken down old bar. I'm sorry young man, but I can't help you." It was a lie, but this wasn't his fight. His fight had been 17 years ago. He didn't exactly do too damn good then, why screw up this kid's chances too?

"You may not be able to kill him. I may not be able too either, but I've got to try. Now you are the last remaining link to the most powerful wizard I've ever known. He was like a Grandfather to me and now I have picked up where he left behind. Did he tell you about the lengths that Voldemort went to in order to become immortal?"

"He mentioned a few things one night after a few too many drinks, but he must have been wrong. Nobody has gone to those lengths, ever. He said he had proof he just needed to find one. That was a long time ago, he never mentioned it again." He couldn't believe that his brother would have told this boy, it was too much for a young man to understand.

"He told me too, but he wasn't drunk. A soul split into seven pieces, six Horcruxes with the seventh piece residing in the jerk himself. The thing is they're all gone. He destroyed one himself and I destroyed one before he died. We were looking for another the night he died. He asked me to handle the rest and I did. They were hard to find and even harder to destroy but the task is done. Now I need to kill the seventh piece before he starts again, but I'm lost. Your brother told me how to destroy the Horcruxes but not the man. I can't do it without help. If you know anything, I'm begging you to help me."

The old man turned and stared at the opposite wall. What to do, what to do. This boy wanted something he wasn't prepared to give. The last time he gave his help, people died.

"I'm not the man I used to be son. You want help and I just want to be left alone. We can't both get what we want. Finish your drink and leave." And with that the old man turned and went into the back room.

Not knowing what else to do the Boy who Lived got up and left.

The Leaky Cauldron looked even shabbier and run down than ever, but everything did these days. Most people had given up with trying to improve thing, why bother. Tom the barman and owner looked up and saw a face he knew he shouldn't be seeing. He quickly rushed over to the door, grabbed Harry, and pulled him into the stockroom.

"What are you doing wandering around in broad daylight for everyone to see? You Know Who gathers more followers every day and you're the most wanted man on his hit list now. For Merlin's sake boy use your head."

"You're right Tom, I'm sorry. Listen I need a place to stay, I need a room somewhere. I trust you Tom. Can you help me out here?"

"Of course you can stay here Harry. Go upstairs to the last room on the left. I'll send up some dinner later."

"Thanks Tom. Don't let anyone come up there accept Ron and Hermione. I need some sleep."

Harry turned and went upstairs. Tom had never seen Harry look so tired. He had the look of someone who was already beaten, and knew it.

Harry quietly went up the stairs to the room he was directed to and fell into the bed. He didn't remember the last time he had been this tired.

Why wouldn't the old man help him? He felt sure that Dumbledore must have told him something. Nobody that smart kept all the answers to themselves, there had to be somebody else who knows. 

Just as Harry was finally clearing his head and falling asleep a soft knocking came at the door.

"Harry, I know you told me not to let anybody in but I figure this is an exception." Came the voice of Tom the bartender.

The door opened and Harry had to look twice to realize that it wasn't his old headmaster. The family resemblance was creepy.

"Hello Harry." He came into the room and sat down in a rather old chair next to the window facing Harry. Harry sat up in the bed and faced the unexpected visitor.

"Hello Sir. What can I do for you?" A small flicker of hope showed up in his eyes.

"Please Harry, call me Aberforth. Actually I have always hated that name. Most people call me Abe."

"Alright Abe, what can I do for you? You already made it very clear that you couldn't or wouldn't help me."

"My brother though very highly of you young man. He was always telling me about you and your adventures. I knew your parents quite well also. I think that if they were here today they would be proud too. What I'm trying to say here is that you don't haft to do this in some attempt to gain their acceptance from the grave. They were all very good people who would want you to just live Harry."

Harry just sat there for a few seconds looking shocked. He couldn't believe that this man was telling him to run and hide. "Is that why you came here, to tell me to run and hide? I'm sorry Abe but that's not going to happen. People are dying every day and I haft to stop it."

"I knew that's what you would say. It's what your mother and father said when I told them the same thing. There is so much about your family that you don't know, but that's for another time. If you're determined to do this then nothing I say will change your mind. You're just as stubborn as Lilly. I'm sorry son but this is something that you're going to haft to go into blind. Dumbledore beat himself to death trying to answer your question. How does a boy kill the most powerful dark wizard this planet has seen in over a thousand years? He didn't know the answer and neither do I. He did tell me that it was something about you specifically. Something that only you could do and he definitely thought it had to do with the way your parents died and you didn't. There have been a lot of questions about why you didn't die that night. Some people actually thought that you might be an even darker wizard than Tom and you would rise up to take his place. I always knew that was gibberish, not with your parents being who they were. You're going to haft to do this knowing you can kill the Bastard. If you go in there with any doubts at all you're doomed. That snake of a man will feed on your weaknesses and turn it against you so fast you won't know what happened."

He stood up and walked to the door. He felt like he at least had to prepare the boy if he was going to do this. He couldn't watch another of his own fall to this jerk.

"I'm not the wizard my brother was Harry but I do have a few tricks of my own up my sleeve. I'm willing to help you prepare but make no mistake; this is about what you already have inside you. If you still want me to help meet me at your parents old house in Godric's Hollow tomorrow night at midnight. That's where it started, that's where we'll start." The old man smiled a slightly familiar smile at the boy and vanished.

Harry woke the next morning startled by a loud banging noise. He immediately looked over to the door to see that someone was trying to turn the locked doorknob. Without giving it so much as a thought he grabbed his wand from under his pillow and ran to the corner pointing it at the door.

"Who's at the door?"

"It's us Harry. You said to meet you here, we were getting worried" Replied the frantic voice of Hermione Granger.

"Thank Merlin. Wait one minute I'll get the door" Said Harry as he grabbed a robe and headed towards the door. When he opened it he was staring into the faces of his two best friends. They had been through a lot together over the past few months and their friendship had only grown stronger, particularly between the two standing in front of them. After destroying Hufflepuff's cup Harry had drifted off into a trace that lasted for several days. While he was recuperating his two best friends found comfort in each others arms and had been almost inseparable ever since.

"Oh Harry we were so worried about you. We have been out here trying to get in for the past five minutes." Hermione exclaimed excitedly.

"Sorry you two I must have overslept."

"I thought you might and told Tom to send up breakfast in a few minutes. Now what's this Ron was telling me about you going to see someone yesterday?"

Harry sat down on the bed and motioned for his two best friends to sit in some neighboring chairs. He then proceeded to tell them the entire story of how he tracked down and enlisted the help of his former headmaster's brother.

"But Harry" Hermione always used his name in a sentence when she was about to try to persuade him that he was wrong "Aberforth Dumbledore was kicked out of the Order about the time that your parents died. A lot of people have wondered exactly why but no one really can remember, or they won't talk about it. How do you know you can trust him? From what I understand his own brother had even washed his hands of the man. Do you really think that was wise?"

Harry had to admit to himself that he hadn't thought of that. Why did Abe get kicked out of the order? It was something he would haft to remember to ask him.

"Well I guess we'll just haft to ask him because he agreed to help me. I'm supposed to meet him tonight at midnight at Godric's Hollow. I would like the two of you to come with me. I need you Hermione to keep me thinking about things like that and I need you Ron to keep me from turning into Hermione." He said with a laugh. Hermione just stood up and threw a pillow at him while Ron had a look of both amusement and agreement on his face.

"What do you hope to gain from this Harry?" She's doing it again "I mean he has been out of the fight for so long, he cannot possibly know how to help, can he?"

"I think he can. At first he was reluctant to help but he came to me here later in the evening. He did say a few things that made me wonder though. He told me that he tried to talk my parents out of facing Voldemort. He also told me that there were a lot of things I needed to know about my parents. I think that's why he wanted to meet with me at the Hollow tonight. If there is any possibility that he can help we haft to try Hermione."

"Harry's right Hermione, what can it hurt to meet with the man? I seriously doubt that the brother of Albus Dumbledore would do anything to hurt us. If he turns out to be an old fool we just leave, nothing lost. But what if he does know something that will help us? I think it's worth the risk to find out."

Hermione was pacing the floor by the window. She didn't like this at all. There were so many unanswered questions about the man. Sure he was a Dumbledore, but wasn't Sirius a Black? They were some of the worst dark wizards to ever walk the face of the planet and he turned out to be a good guy. What if Aberforth was the opposite of his brother? It would certainly answer a lot of questions rather neatly. If there was anything Hermione liked it was a neat answer. But what if Ron was right? She really didn't give him enough credit, even in her own mind. When it came to strategy there was no one better than Ron.

"Alright boys you're probably right. I just cannot shake this feeling that this is going to go badly." She said.

"You worry too much Hermione. Everything will be fine. Just in case though I need both of you to be extra sharp tonight. Even if Abe is sincere in wanting to help it's still a risky place to be. When we tried to go there right after school ended we almost died. Voldemort knows that the place has a particularly strong draw for me and will likely have Death Eaters keeping an eye on the place."

"I don't think we should apparate directly to the house this time either. I've been thinking about this and last time we didn't see any Death Eaters until a few minutes after we arrived. It's possible that he may have someone there who can sense when magic is being used and sensed us when we popped in. We should probably apparate a few miles away and walk the rest of the way." Said Ron as he tried to think out a plan.

"That sounds like a good idea Ron; it's why I keep you around mate." Harry had really began to rely on Ron's tactical abilities recently. He may not be the best wizard in the world when it came to changing rats into tea cups but he always seemed to know the best way to handle a situation.

Harry changed his focus from Ron to Hermione. While he has spent the last few months relying on Ron for his tactical prowess Hermione was still the brightest witch of her age. She had yet to fail him when he needed to figure out a particularly hard spell or research to find the location of the Horcruxes. She had personally tracked down all of the Horcruxes and found the spells and incantations needed in order to see to their destruction. In the end it was Harry himself who had destroyed them, but he had no doubt that she could have done it too. 

He never could shake off the feeling that he was the least needed of the group. If Hermione and Ron had taken on this task without him he knew they would succeed. All he ever really did was listen to their often opposing views and try to come up with the best possible solution to keep them from fighting about it forever. He never really felt needed in this little adventure at all.

"Hermione I want you to take a look at this."

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the crystal Malfoy had given him. He tossed it to Hermione.

"Draco gave me that the other day at Dumbledore's tomb. He said it had belonged to my mother. Why do you think Lucius would have kept it around for all these years? Draco said it was a memento of the night my parents died but I don't believe that for a second. I just can't see a Malfoy being sentimental about anything."

Hermione studied the crystal for a few seconds but didn't say anything. For some reason she kept looking from the crystal to Harry and then back at the crystal again.

"What is it Hermione? Don't tell me you already have a theory, that's creepy sometimes how you just pull these things out of the air like you're reading a book or something." Ron replied with a confused look on his face.

"Shut up Ron or you'll have to go back to making kissy faces in the mirror again because you won't be coming near me. Sorry Harry. I do have a theory Ronald but you don't get to hear it yet. Harry can I hold onto this? I want to do a little research before I say anything else."

"Sure Hermione. Take care of it though it's the only thing of my mothers that I have, even if that slimy bastard Lucius did have it for 17 years."

"I will Harry. Well Tom should be here any minute now with breakfast and I'm starving."

The trio spent the rest of the day talking about normal teenage things like saving the world and killing a dark lord.

Authors Note: A special thanks goes out to all of my reviewers, especially wired2damoon. You keep me writing, even when I get a bad case of block LOL.


	3. Chapter 3

With a loud "pop" the trio appeared out of thin air in a quiet alleyway on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow. They wore identical outfits and to the casual observer looked for all practical purposes like monks. The cloaks were specially designed to hide their features and allow them room in the sleeves to reach up the opposite arm and draw their wand from a special forearm holster. These cloaks had proven quite useful during their search for the Horcruxes and they were not about to let a good thing go to waste.

It was a fairly cool night for this time of the year. Usually Harry would enjoy a walk on an evening like this but tonight his mind wasn't in it. He had only been to his parent's home one time and was unable to stay for long. Almost immediately after they arrived they were attacked by several death eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange. They managed to escape, but just barely. Ron had been hit with a nasty little stunning curse and they'd had to do a side along apparition to get him out of there. It took him almost two days to recover.

They were on edge. Too much had happened already for them to fail, they had come too far. This was a gamble. If it turned out that Hermione was right to be suspicious this one evening could ruin all they had fought for. They still had not told anyone they had destroyed the last of the Horcruxes and they were beginning to question that decision. Earlier in the day they began discussing who should finally be brought in on the inner workings of their team. It would need to be someone completely trustworthy. Someone who would not insist on coming with them, if they did it would defeat the purpose of them knowing. Someone would need to have the information but not be able to act on it in order to meet their purposes. If everyone who knew about it went off to fight and died, who would know how to carry on the fight? But that was a decision to be made later.

They walked silently but alertly as they approached Harry's childhood home. Everything looked to be exactly as they had left it before. It was a modest two story home with a full front porch and a picket fence that used to be white. The home was not destroyed but displayed its lack of attention for the last seventeen years. Several of the window shutters had come loose and the roof was in bad need of repair. Almost no paint remained on the exterior walls of the house and the lawn was a lost cause. Even though it was in such bad shape, it still conjured up a feeling of home for Harry. He didn't remember living here, but somehow knew it was where he belonged.

"Well Harry what do you want to do?" Ron asked "Should we go inside or wait out here? Personally I don't like the idea of sitting out here for anyone to see but if we go inside we may trigger someone to our presence." That was the way Ron had come to think. There was always the possibility of a trap, no matter what you did to keep it from happening.

"I don't know about you two but I think we should go inside. For all we know he's already in there waiting for us."

Harry glanced at his two friends and made a quick decision. "Ron you open the door and take the left. I'm behind Ron and I'll cover the right and you take the center of the room Hermione. You two know the drill. We need to go in quick and cover our sectors immediately. If anything looks out of place let the others know right away."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other and nodded agreement. They'd had to do this before and knew the drill. They had after all learned it the hard way. While trying to recover the last Horcrux they'd had to enter a small building in Northern Ireland. They walked in without checking the room and were immediately attacked by a large animal that even Hermione cannot identify to this day.

They got into position and Ron opened the door. The three of them entered the room with quiet precision and scanned their sectors. In order of entering the three of them reported to each other that the room was clear and began doing the same throughout the house. First the dining room, the kitchen, and the den until the entire ground floor was clear. They were about to climb the stairs and check the second floor when they saw Aberforth sitting on the top of the staircase.

"That was an excellent tactic my young friends. However I must point out that you left the best place for a tactical assault, the high ground, unchecked throughout the search. Make sure that you do not make that mistake again, it could prove fatal. I would suggest leaving someone behind to cover the stairs and the entrance while the other two check the rooms. Never leave your rear uncovered. That's a very important rule to remember."

Ron shook his head in disbelief. How had he not thought of that? It was so obvious a vantage point to fire off spells at the three of them without much chance of retaliation. Fighting your way up was much harder than fighting your way down. He wouldn't let them make that mistake again.

"I thought you would be alone Harry, but it is good that you are not. Someone in your position should always surround yourself with people you trust." Aberforth stood up and walked down the stairs appraising the two additional people.

"You must be Hermione Granger and Ron Weazley. My brother spoke of the two of you almost as often as he spoke of Harry. He always told me that you were the only thing that kept Harry sane. Always remember Harry, no one could conquer the world alone. Even Voldemort requires Lieutenants, followers, people to watch his back. I believe that you have your Lieutenants right here."

"Excuse me Sir but why are we here?" Hermione asked "We could have been given a tactical lesson in a less obvious place. We've already been attacked here once; they may have this place under observation."

"Right you are young lady. Let's get to the point. In order for Harry to understand the future he must understand the past. I have replayed the events of sixteen years ago over and over again in my mind to try and find a solution to our problem. I feel that the answer lies here. Voldemort will not be easily defeated. You already know the lengths he is willing to go to in order to achieve immortality. He is a powerful wizard capable of astounding feats of magic. What was it that caused him to be defeated here sixteen years ago? My brother places the credit on the protection your mother gave you by sacrificing her life for you on that night. I agree that this is what initially gave you the protection needed to allow you to survive the curse. I also believe that this protection provided you with a small advantage, but we'll talk about that later. If I'm correct however it will be critical to your victory."

Aberforth turned and walked back up the stairs gesturing for the trio to follow. They climbed to the top and entered a small room on the right that was in a state of disarray which far exceeded the rest of the house. It contained a crib that had been turned over on its side, a large number of toys scattered the floor, and a changing table stood in the corner.

"This is the room where it happened isn't it. This was my nursery. It seems familiar but I have no specific memories of living here." Harry had an odd expression on his face. He managed to look content and sorrowful at the same time. He couldn't help but think of how his life might have turned out if his parents had survived. This though constantly haunted him. He knew better than to think like this, it did no good to dwell in the past, but he couldn't help it.

"Yes Harry, this was your room. We assume Voldemort stood about where you are now and your mother was right in front of the crib trying to shield you. When she refused to move he cast the killing curse on her so he could finish his task and leave. Voldemort has never liked to do his own dirty work but this was too important to leave to one of his incompetent followers. After he killed your mother he turned on you and when the curse backfired he disappeared."

Now it was Ron's turn to speak up. "We know all of this already. Every bloody wizard in England knows this story. What are you getting at Sir? Are you saying that's not how it happened?"

"Young man I do not have all of the answers. But in order for me to tell you the parts you may not know we must establish what you do know to be truthful. Everyone here agrees that the course I laid out to you was the most likely scenario. Now that it is agreed upon we can begin to speculate as to what happened just before the attack. Have you ever seen a picture of you as a child Harry? Before the attack I mean."

"No I haven't. All the pictures I have from that time period are of my parents only. I hadn't really thought about it before but I guess that's a little odd isn't it? Come to think of it there are a lot of pictures in this house of my parents but none of me. What do you suppose that's about?" It was a small detail but Harry couldn't believe he had never noticed it. Why would people willing to die for their son not have pictures of him in their home? It didn't make sense.

"Harry all of the pictures of you that were taken before the attacks have been destroyed. We did this immediately after the attack for two reasons. First, most of the people that knew what you looked like were either dead, or made to take an unbreakable vow never to describe your appearance to anyone. My brother did this to protect you from any angry Death Eaters looking for revenge. Secondly they were destroyed to keep anyone from discovering the change in your appearance that took place on that night."

This was too much for Harry to take in all at once. "What change in my appearance, my scar? Everyone knows about me receiving this scar on that night. Its how Ron recognized me on the first trip to Hogwarts."

"No Harry not the scar, your eyes. Harry you take after your father a great deal but you have your mother's exact shade of green eyes. You've been told this many times but what you haven't been told, what you couldn't be told by anyone who knew you before that night accept me, is that you were born with brown eyes. When Hagrid picked you up that night the first thing he noticed was that your eyes had changed color, even before he noticed the scar. Eyes like that are hard to miss. No one knows why this change took place. Some think it is a natural occurrence. Children often are born with eyes that are not the same color as when they grow older. I do not believe this to be the case. I believe that a certain very magical item was in this room when the tragedy occurred. When the item was hit with the blunt force of Voldemort's magic something strange happened. I think that when your mother transferred her protection to you, the object transferred some of its magic to you as well."

Hermione spoke up next. "Does this have anything to do with Lilly's necklace? When Harry showed it to me earlier I noticed that the crystal was the exact same shade of green as his eyes. We were told that she never took the thing off. What is it?"

Aberforth's eyes immediately got wide and he suddenly became very frantic. "You have the crystal? Where is it? This is very important, we must leave at once. I want the three of you to return to your room at the Leaky Cauldron and wait for me there. Make sure not to let anyone else in and do not let your guard down. No matter what do not let that crystal out of your site. This could be the answer we have been looking for."


	4. Chapter 4

Remus Lupin paced the floor of his small flat outside of London for what seemed like the millionth time. He had neither seen nor heard from Harry in over a month. For the life of him he could not understand why the boy continued to refuse the help of the order. Everything the boy did he did with his two closest friends and left everyone out of the loop. He was a very frustrated man.

Since the death of Albus Dumbledore Remus had been trying to pick up the pieces of the old wizard's search. This was a particularly difficult task because no one seemed to know what he had been searching for. He had questioned all those close to his old professor extensively but the questioning proved fruitless. All the trails he picked up seemed to lead to dead ends or misdirection. Whatever it was Albus had been looking for, he didn't want anyone to figure it out. To make matters worse his constant concern over Harry's welfare was a terrible distraction.

He knew that Harry was a very capable wizard and a natural born leader. The boy had been in and out of more nasty situations than anyone that age should have had to. He also knew that Harry had been assisting Albus with whatever it was he had been searching for. What he didn't know was why the young man refused to share the facts of their mission with him. Sure Albus had sworn him to secrecy but he was dead now. Surely he would want this knowledge to be shared with those who could best deal with it now that he was gone. He just couldn't make sense of it.

He had been approached by the order shortly after that terrible night at Hogwarts. They had discussed the issue and decided that he should take over the role as leader of the order in Albus' absence. He took all of about two seconds to consider and refuse the offer. He was not a man who aspired to leadership. He was content following and doing what he could when he could for the order, but his condition would not allow him to give the order any more than that. After a considerable amount of attempted persuasion the order had relented and made a unique decision. Instead of having one person run the order there would be three. A panel of sorts was established and the three people selected would make joint decisions on what would be done. The panel consisted of Minerva, Mad Eye, and in order to make the newer members happy, Tonks was selected as the third. Their first order of business had been picking up the pieces of their former leaders research and since Remus was not doing anything else he volunteered to head up the effort. Unfortunately he had not been very successful.

The only lead he had at the present was Harry who quickly grew tired of being questioned and had started avoiding him. Since Harry wouldn't answer any of his questions he had started having him followed. He felt bad about doing this but could see no other option. The others in the inner circle didn't like this invasion of his privacy but since Harry had elected not to become a member on his seventeenth birthday they couldn't stop him. If Harry had become a member this surveillance would have required the consent of the leadership panel. The privacy of the members was very important to the order and only in extreme cases where loyalty was questioned was this type of tactic allowed. The fact that he even suggested it showed his desperation.

Finally with a loud pop a young wizard appeared in Remus' living room. The young man's name was William Butler. He was a first year Auror and had been a member of the order for about six months. Harry had never met him so he was one of the ones selected to perform the surveillance.

"Hello Will, what have you to tell me tonight. Another evening of following the boy back and forth from the Burrow?" That had been Harry's routine lately. He would wander around the countryside with no apparent destination and then suddenly apparate to the Burrow. He would stay there for a little while and then return to wherever he decided to stay for the night.

"Not tonight Remus. Tonight Harry went for a little adventure. Him and his two friends Ron and Hermione went to Godric's Hollow and spent some time in a run down old house. They must have been in there an hour when they came running out looking quite excited. When they apparated away I was about to follow but another man came out of the house. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me because I swear I saw Albus. Then I realized it must have been his brother. It didn't make sense to me until I remembered that Harry had been to his bar a few days ago. I have no idea what they were doing; it seemed too risky to go into the house."

"Aberforth was there? Well this is an interesting development. I wonder what they were doing."

This was definitely an unexpected turn of events. What would bring Aberforth back into the fight? The man had been hiding out in that bar ever since the night James and Lilly had been killed. He still blamed himself for their deaths although no one could figure out why. 

"Alright Will good work. Discuss this with no one. I don't want it getting out that Abe's become involved with this. I'll go and talk with him, see what I can get from him without letting him know we are following Harry. In the meantime continue to surveillance but we will need to be more careful. Hiding from Harry is one thing; hiding from a Dumbledore is something else entirely. Do not underestimate him. He is almost as powerful as his brother was and at one time was in charge of strategy for the order. He's a brilliant tactician and personally taught a number of us how to properly use squad tactics. We will definitely need to be more careful."

"Alright Remus I'll let the others know. I'm going to go home and get some sleep. This is really starting to catch up with me. Work all day and follow Harry all night. It's getting to be too much. How much longer do you think this will be necessary?"

"Shouldn't be much longer. I think Harry will come around. Sooner or later he'll see reason and understand that this is too much for the three of them to carry around on their shoulders all by themselves."

When Will apparated away Remus found a large chair by the fire and sat down. This changes everything. If Abe had become involved they were definitely up to something bigger than the order had realized.

His mind kept taking him back to one word, why? Why would Harry be pushing him away? He had proven himself trustworthy to the boy. He had gone out of his way to make Harry understand that he wanted to be a part of his life.

Perhaps he had been going about this all wrong. If he had earned Harry's trust but still couldn't get anything out of him, maybe another approach would work. Perhaps trusting him wasn't the problem.

Ginny was angry. No angry doesn't even begin to describe the way she felt, livid was the word. She had been having a literal tantrum since her father made her leave the breakfast table the day and had not come out of her room for anything more than food and bathroom breaks. 

The thing that infuriated her more than anything was her inability to pinpoint who she was most angry with. She was sure that it had to be Harry. He was the one that had been avoiding her. He was the one who insisted on keeping up this charade of protection. Protection, like she was a little girl who couldn't hold her own. She didn't need protecting. If she could survive her brothers she could survive anything. Who does he think he is?

Speaking of brothers, as soon as she can get her hands on her youngest brother there's going to be hell to pay. Running off with that boy and not telling anyone where he's going. Doesn't he understand the pain he's causing us?

Then there's her best friend Hermione. What kind of best friend avoids you and keeps secrets form you? 

Let's not forget dear old dad. She was absolutely disgusted that he had taken Harry's side over her own. What kind of father would do that? She had every right to be a part of this little adventure of theirs. Had she not proven herself time and time again?

But what bothered her most wasn't her anger for any of these people. It was the anger she felt towards herself. She had acted like a spoiled child. She had actually told the love of her life that he had to choose. She had presented him with an ultimatum without thinking about the consequences. What if he believed her? What if he never came back? She couldn't live with that possibility. She had to find him. She had to set things right.

She didn't understand why he was doing this to her but she wasn't about to let it ruin her chances with him. What if he was telling the truth and only wanted what was best for her? What if she actually was too much of a distraction?

The thought was kind of flattering really although she wasn't ready to admit it to herself. Someone loved her so much that they couldn't think straight when she was around.

Oh how had she been such a fool? The best thing that ever happened to her thought she hated him!

It was all so damn annoying. On one hand she wanted to ball up her fist and punch Harry right in the nose. On the other she wanted to caress his face and tell him she loved him. In the end a good person always chooses love over hate. Ginny was one of the best people on the planet.

It's rather amazing how the human mind can go from one emotional state to another without getting confused. In the last fifteen minutes she had drifted from one emotion to another without so much as batting an eye.

Author's Note: I know it was wrong of me not to pick up where I left off, but it's my story and I'm mean. Don't worry though, a few questions will be answered in the next chapter…….I think.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the run down room at the Leaky Cauldron anxiously awaiting the arrival of Aberforth. It had been almost twenty minutes since the old wizard had left them in Godric's Hollow and they were becoming impatient. He had seemed so excited about that crystal pendant that they were sure he would be right behind them. Unfortunately they were left to wait and guess.

The door to the room burst open without a knock and a frantic Aberforth entered.

"Where is the crystal Hermione? If it's what I think it is this could change everything."

"It's here Sir." Hermione reached into her pocket and took out a small velvet bag and handed it to Abe. When he looked into the bag he slumped over with relief and found the nearest chair.

"I haven't seen this in almost eighteen years. Well I think it would be best for everyone to take a seat, this story may take some time to tell." He waited patiently for the confused teenagers to sit down and then he began his story.

"Harry I mentioned to you that when you were born your eyes were brown. I also told you that the order has gone to great lengths to keep anyone from knowing this. What I did not tell you is why. In order for you to understand the explanation though I will need to tell you some background on my family and yours. Do you think you're ready to hear this?"

"Yes Sir I am. Everyone refuses to tell me about my parents and other family members. Every time I bring it up people start telling me stories about how crazy my father was or how smart my mother was but they never tell me anything of importance."

"Don't blame them Harry. My brother made them all take the unbreakable vow not to reveal to you or anyone else what you are about to hear. He felt that when the time was right it should be either him or I that told you. This story is fairly personal. Would you rather your friends leave or stay?"

"Anything you say to me you can say to them. I trust them completely."

"I can see that you do. Very well let's begin. As I am sure you know the Dumbledore family is one of the oldest of the pureblood lines. In fact the only lines known to be older are the Blacks. Throughout history the pureblood families were entrusted with certain magical objects that were passed down from generation to generation. Some of these are very famous while others are virtually unknown. The cloak that Merlin wore during Arthur's final battle with his son was held by the Black family for generations until it was lost. The other families all had similar objects but a large number of them refused to discuss the matter or even allow others to see them. Over a period of time a great number of them have been lost to outsiders. Many of these objects have been forgotten to all but the families. The Dumbledore family was entrusted with this crystal. The crystal is called Merlin's Tear. The legend says that as a young man Merlin fell in love with the muggle daughter of a nobleman. Their relationship grew but it could only go so far because she could not get past the differences that they shared. She could never participate in the life he led. She broke the relationship off with him shortly after Arthur was crowned king and disappeared for several years. These years were almost unbearable for Merlin and he vowed to do whatever it took to win her back. He began working with an alchemist to create a pendant that would give his powers to whoever wore it. They worked together for years while Arthur searched for the grail. Many people have blamed the affair between Galahad and Guinevere on the time he spent with the project. He worked day and night but according to the legend he was never successful. The legends are wrong. This crystal is the crystal in the legend."

Hermione gasped and the other two were too shocked to even do that. "Are you saying that all the books have it wrong? That's impossible. How could such a thing be covered up all this time?" Ron asked with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Don't be dense Ron" Hermione added "books are written by the powerful. Haven't you ever heard that history is written by the victor? Obviously the people who recorded the legends didn't want this information to become known. Think about the implications. If an object could give the wearer magical abilities equal to that of Merlin it would be the most sought after in history. Wars would be fought over it. It's the kind of thing that could cause people to be killed."

"You are correct young lady. This little crystal was too powerful to be made public knowledge. Only the most trusted people were allowed to know of its existence. The crystal was passed down when Merlin's wife died to his oldest son."

"But Merlin didn't have any children." This time it was Harry who spoke up.

"Of course he had children young man. He had a son and a daughter. They were kept hidden from the rest of the world by Merlin himself because he feared for their safety. Merlin had made enemies of some of the darkest wizards of all time. He knew that they could be used against him and that they would be targets for the rest of their lives. They were raised by a couple in Britain by the name of Jonathan and Evelyn Dumbledore. They took their name and thus the Dumbledore line of wizards began."

The old wizard stood up and walked to the window. "I cannot stress the importance of this story remaining a secret. The knowledge of these events would be devastating to the remaining members of my family. I have many cousins who still trace their bloodlines through the Dumbledore name and many of those are on the wrong side of this war. If they had a claim to Merlin's legacy things could get quite out of control. I want you all to swear secrecy before I continue."

Without hesitating the three friends instantly agreed. They were far too mesmerized by the story to even consider ending it now.

"When the children of Merlin died the crystal was passed to the oldest son of the oldest son and so on and so forth for generations. Although our family possessed the crystal, it was never used again. It was agreed that in order for it to be kept a secret we couldn't run around making wizards out of muggles whenever it struck our fancy. So when it was eventually passed on to me I had every intention of honoring the family tradition. For years I kept the secret safe even though my brother thought I was a fool for doing so. He always felt that an item this powerful should be used for the good of our people. He felt that if we were to allow it to be studied by his friend Nicholas he might be able to duplicate it. Think about the possibilities he would say. If we could duplicate the pendant the children of wizards who are born without magical abilities could become wizards and no longer be ostracized by society as squibs. You see my brother began his fight for equality amongst wizards as a champion for squib rights. He was quite successful too I must add. When we were children squibs were used as servants in wizarding households. Who better than a house elf could keep the secrets of the wizarding world? I refused to hear of it. I had sworn to our father that the secret would remain safe. For years he urged me to see his side of the story but I was unrelenting in my refusal. It tore us apart and eventually we stopped speaking to each other. Years passed without us speaking to each other. During this time I married and had two beautiful daughters."

It was obvious that the memory of his daughters was particularly painful for him. As he told the story it seemed that he was actually aging before their eyes. Of course he wasn't but some emotions can bring about an almost physical change in a persons appearance.

"I'm not as young as I once was my friends. I find that as I get older I tire easily. This seems like a good place to take a break. We will continue out story in the morning. I do not believe that this place is safe any longer. I would like to invite the three of you to spend the night in my home and then tomorrow we will finish."

Harry woke the next morning to an unfamiliar room. The walls were paneled with mahogany and the room was elegantly decorated. He was lying in a four post bed with silk sheets and a down comforter, he was impressed. As he got out of bed he realized that he had no memory of being brought here but assumed it must have something to do with Abe.

He quickly dressed and made his way down the hall. It was lined with a large number of oak doors leading to various rooms. Since he didn't know which one housed Hermione he had no intention of simply opening them so he began knocking. After three unsuccessful attempts he finally heard Ron snoring behind one of them. He opened the door and to his surprise found not just Ron but Hermione as well. They were both sleeping soundly under the covers in a room very similar to the one he had previously occupied.

Feeling rather embarrassed at the situation he faced he decided that his best course of action was to leave the room and try to find Abe. He quietly left the room and made his way further down the hall until he came upon a staircase. The staircase went both up and down. He decided that he must be on an upper floor and since most living areas are on the ground floor he began climbing down. Once he reached the ground floor he found himself in a massive entry hall. The floors were made of polished oak and the walls were papered with a very elegant green wall paper.

"Harry I'm glad you're awake. Would you care for some breakfast or Tea?" Aberforth called from the adjoining room.

Harry headed toward the voice and found Abe standing next to a large sink in what looked to be a modern muggle kitchen.

"That would be great, Thanks. I was wondering how we got here." Harry stated with more of an angry tone than he intended.

"I must apologize for the manner in which I brought the three of you here Harry. I was very concerned with our safety and the fastest way to get the three of you here with out a fuss was the manner I used. When all of this is over I would be glad to teach it to you but I must warn you that it is quite draining."

"Is this your home Abe?"

"Welcome to the Dumbledore family home Harry. Over seven generations of Dumbledore's have been born and raised in this very house. This is where me and my brother grew up and where I raised my family."

"You mentioned your family last night before you brought us here. Where is here by the way?" Harry asked.

"We are in Scotland Harry, not far from Hogwarts. The exact location is unplotable and you are the first non Dumbledore's to set foot here in over ten years." Abe replied with a smile as he placed a cup of tea and some biscuits in front of Harry.

"So now that you have something to eat shall we continue the story?"

"I would prefer to wait until Ron and Hermione have joined us. I'll go wake them and bring them down." Harry replied and began to stand.

"Harry the rest of the story is not for me to tell them. They will remain asleep until we have finished. If you wish to tell them you are of course free to do so but that choice must be made after you have heard this."

"Alright, I'm listening."

"Good then we will begin where we left off. I had married and had two daughters. My choice of a wife was not popular with my family. She was from a muggle family and while my parents had no quarrel with muggle born witches and wizards that did not mean that they wanted the family line tainted by one. Once they met her though and saw us together they knew there was no turning back. Shortly after we married my father passed away and he was soon followed by my mother. The funeral was the first time that me and my brother had seen each other for almost twenty years. We reconciled our differences and he once again became a part of our lives. He absolutely adored my wife and children and could not allow himself to remain apart from the family. Those were happy years Harry. My daughters were growing into fine people and my wife held me in the palm of her hand. There was nothing I could refuse her."

Abe stood up and walked to the stove to get the tea pot to pour himself and Harry a fresh cup. Harry just sat and waited for the old wizard to continue.

"My wife had only one sister and they were very close. Of course here sister knew she was a witch and visited us regularly. She eventually got married and had two daughters of her own. The oldest was a very cold little girl. She was nothing like her mother or the rest of the family and even from a young age she acted like she was better than everyone around her. The second daughter however was truly a pleasure to be around. Even Albus was unable to resist coming to visit when he knew she would be there. My wife absolutely adored her. She was constantly showering her with gifts and having her over to visit. Unfortunately she treated her other niece as though she did not exist but I never said anything, the child was terrible. As the young girl grew she became more and more fascinated with our way of life and longed to have magical abilities. At one time we thought that perhaps she might develop them but it was not meant to be. When she was around ten years old my wife asked me the question I had been expecting. She wanted me to allow the girl to use the crystal. I immediately refused but she had a way of making me do anything she asked and with the help of my brother she eventually convinced me. I believe that it was my greatest triumph and my worst mistake at the same time. You see Harry that young girl was your mother Lilly."

Harry's jaw hit the table from the shock of that statement. It explained so much. It explained why his Aunt hated him so much. It explained his mother being a witch from a muggle family. He definitely hadn't expected this.

"So you are telling me that you, your wife and Albus made my mother a witch?"

"That's right Harry. From the moment we put the crystal around your mother's neck she became a witch. Within one hour her eyes went from a deep brown to a brilliant green. Other changes were immediately visible. Her hair had always been brown with a tint of red but it soon became bright red. The rest of the story is history. She attended Hogwarts, met your father and you were born. The details are unimportant but they bring us to the night you lost her. Can you see where this is taking us Harry?"

Harry still had a look of shock on his face. He was still trying to take all of this in.

"She was wearing the crystal that night wasn't she? Of course she was she would have to wear it all of the time wouldn't she?" Harry asked.

"That's right Harry in order for it to work properly she could never take it off. If she did the magic would stop and no matter how many times she put it back on it would be gone forever. There are only four people who knew the secret: Me, my wife, Albus and your father. When your father proposed she came to me and Albus and asked if she could tell him. She refused to marry him if it meant carrying on with the lie. It was the main reason she resisted him for as long as she did. We were uncomfortable with it but Albus convinced me that your father could be trusted. We were also concerned about the future of the crystal. I had not male heirs and Albus was not getting any younger. We thought that if they proved worthy we would consider passing it on to them. Shortly after they were married they began voicing their opposition to Voldemort."

Harry stood up and walked to the kitchen window. This was a lot of information in a short time and he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Why did Albus never tell him any of this?

"What are you thinking Harry?"

"I'm trying to figure out why Albus never told me any of this. I was always asking him about my family and never once did he mention this."

"He planned to tell you but the time never came. The night that Voldemort visited she was of course wearing the necklace. Harry I believe that the curse Voldemort used on your mother hit her square on the pendant. When it did I believe that it transferred itself into you."

"How could you know something like that?"

"I was awake most of the night checking the crystal. It is now nothing more than a crystal. I think it transferred into you and combined with the protection your mother gave you it saved your life and vanquished Voldemort. Think about it Harry, with the power of the crystal and the powers that were given to you by Voldemort that night you could very well be the most powerful wizard alive."

Authors Note: This was originally two chapters but I think I like it better as one so I put them together. I want to thank wired2damoon for her continued support as well as Rose and everyone else who reviews this story. I have just realized that during the course of this story there has not been a single spell used. That's about to change big time.


	6. Chapter 6

Voldemort sat quietly in a large chair centered in the biggest room on the ground floor of his new headquarters. The chair stood over five feet tall and was impressively decorated with carvings of various serpents that were so realistic at first glance you would swear they were moving. Standing in front of him were two of his most trusted Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange and Severus Snape. Bellatrix had the usual look of insanity plastered across her face and Snape had his usual scowl.

Voldemort looked up at them and after an uncomfortable silence began to speak. "I have called the two of you here to discuss our future operations. But before we begin I must ask you Bella, have you located that useless boy Malfoy yet?"

Bellatrix's expression changed from one of careless insanity to pure fear instantly. "No my Lord I haven't. We have looked and looked but have failed to find him. We have heard of a few sightings of him but every time that we try to find him he is gone before we get there. We will find him my lord, we just need more time."

"My dearest Bella, what will I do with you? I could torture you but you would just enjoy it. I will only say that your life is becoming less and less valuable to me every day that Draco lives. I will not continue to tolerate these failures. I want that boy here, in this room, so that I can watch him die. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes my Lord you are. We will find him."

"Good, for your sake I hope you do. Now let's talk about the Potter boy. I have received word that he has been seen with that fool Albus Dumbledore's brother. I don't know why but this bothers me. Severus I am in need of your considerable talents. I need you to find out what they are up to. You are not to kill the boy but may do whatever you want with his friends or the bartender. If you get the opportunity to capture Potter however, bring him before me and I will deal with him myself. We cannot allow a group of children to continue to disrupt our plans."

"Yes my Lord."

"Now leave me, I have things to do." Voldemort told them. Not having to be told twice they quickly left the room.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all seated around a small table in Harry's room at the Inn. Harry had spent the last hour relaying to them the story of the crystal. As it was sinking in to the couple Harry still had a full head of steam and began talking at a hundred miles an hour.

"So now it seems that I have the combined powers of Merlin, my Mother and the natural powers I was born with. What I don't understand is why I'm such an average wizard if that's the case. He can't be right; perhaps the crystal was just destroyed when Voldemort used the killing curse on my mother. I have never shown any abilities that are that special. I'm not trying to play the modest hero role, I know that there are things I can do that others can't but nothing miraculous. I just don't……"

"Harry slow down, you're talking so fast we can't understand you. Relax man." Ron said with an exhausted look on his face.

"Sorry but this is a bit much to believe. What do you think Hermione?"

"Well first off you are considerable above average when it comes to raw magical ability." Harry started to protest but Hermione cut him off. "Now hear me out Harry. You were able to produce a patronus at a very early age, and there isn't a defensive spell you can't do better than anyone else in our year. Perhaps this ability has centered itself around that aspect of magic. No offense but your charms work isn't very good and how many times did it take you to turn a goblet into a rat? These areas of magical learning have always been a problem for you but defensive spells and hexes, you're a genius when it comes to those."

"But that could just be because he knows the value of those spells. He has had the darkest wizard alive trying to kill him for a little while. He could just be paying more attention. Have you ever really applied yourself in the other areas Harry?" Ron asked.

"I've always tried to do well in my subjects, but I guess I never really saw the use in turning a thimble into a cockroach."

Hermione stood up and walked over to the other side of the room. "Harry give me your wand. I want to try something." Harry reluctantly stood up and gave her his wand. "Now Harry I'm going to set this on the window sill here and I want you to try to summon it to you."

"How am I supposed to do that? I need my wand to perform the summoning spell."

"Just do it Harry I have an idea."

Harry stuck out his arm half heartedly. "Accio Wand." Nothing happened.

"If you're not going to try we won't learn anything will we?"

"Fine, I'll try." Harry stuck out his arm and pictured in his mind the wand sitting on the window sill flying into his hand. "Accio Wand." The wand shot through the air so fast that Harry barely caught it. "How in the bloody hell did I do that?"

"OK now I want you to try to summon something else, a cup or something."

Harry turned and found a book sitting on the nightstand. "Accio Book." He did the same as before, pictured it coming to him as he said the words and like before the book flew across the room and into his outstretched hand.

"You two are starting to creep me out here. What's going on Hermione?" Ron asked with a look of utter confusion on his face.

Hermione put on her usual look of superiority and began to explain. "Well if that crystal really did contain Merlin's magic wouldn't it give you his type of magic? Merlin only used a wand for extremely complicated spells, things like hexes and defensive magic. I hate to say this Harry but maybe your wand has been holding you back. Try to transfigure the cup into something, but do it without your wand. Just use your hand as though a wand was in it."

Harry walked over to a cup that was sitting on the table. He raised his hand over the cup and allowed it to pass in a strange motion and the cup got up and ran across the room and under the door.

Ron's jaw dropped to the floor as he watched Harry.

"What's wrong Ron haven't you ever seen anything completely amazing before." Hermione asked.

"It's not that he transfigured the cup, I expected that. Hermione didn't you notice that he didn't say anything? Not only did he perform wandless magic but he did it nonverbally as well. Bloody hell Harry that was amazing."

"Harry I think we should talk to someone about this. Maybe we should go see Abe or the order. Someone will know what to do. What about Professor McGonagall?"

"I'm not ready to bring the order in on any of this yet. We can talk to Abe about it; he knows more about the crystal's powers than anyone else does. I wonder why none of this ever happened before."

"Well honestly Harry have you ever tried it before? I think that if you had actually tried without your wand you may have been able to do it before. It might also have something to do with confidence. You never knew before this morning that you had some great power. Maybe the knowledge that you have these powers has given you a new confidence that allows you to do it." Hermione added.

"But last year I tried to do nonverbal spells and couldn't do it. I wanted more than anything to hex Snape nonverbally but couldn't do it."

This time Ron chimed in. "Harry you've always let Snape get into your head. Maybe the fact that Snape was the one teaching us nonverbals had something to do with it. You hate him so much you may have blocked it just because of him."  
"He might be right Harry. You've always hated Snape, maybe that hatred put up a mental wall." 

Harry's head snapped to the door and he quickly raised his wand. "Someone's outside the door, I can feel it." He whispered to the other two.

"Can you tell who it is Harry?" Ron whispered back.

"I know the person but can't tell who it is. Ron come over here next to me, Hermione go open the door and get out of the way. On the count of three open the door; one, two, three."

Hermione opened the door quickly and got out of the way.

In the middle of the forbidden forest there was an old run down cottage. Nobody had lived there in over a hundred years, until now that is. This cottage had been the home of Draco Malfoy for the last month. At first he hadn't done anything about the lack of a roof or the missing windows for fear of drawing attention to himself. He knew that the Centaurs and other creatures of the forest didn't want him there. So far they had left him alone for some reason, but he hadn't wanted to try his luck.

After about three weeks of almost nonstop morning rain his weaknesses got the better of him. Since he didn't have a wand he had to gather the sticks and grass and other things he had needed to patch the roof by hand. He didn't have a clue what he was doing. He had never had to do any physical labor before but he found that after his initial dread wore off he actually took pleasure in it. He managed to patch the roof to a point that it at least kept most of the rain out and had covered the window holes with sticks to keep the wind out.

Water wasn't a problem; the constant rain had provided him with enough rain water to get him by. Food was another story. He'd never paid any attention in herbology and didn't have the slightest idea what he could and couldn't eat. He didn't know anything about hunting without a wand and his attempts to trap something were rarely successful. His clothes were rags and his shoes were on their last few kilometers. He was getting desperate.

He had thought that Potter would tell the authorities he was hiding in the forest and they would come get him. Prison was better than dying in the forest of hunger or exposure. He spent the next few days after their encounter on constant guard for their arrival. He had played a key part in the death of Dumbledore and the attack on the school and they wouldn't take him gently if they found him. If he only had a wand he would be alright, everything would be better.

The worst part of this self imposed exile wasn't the concern that Voldemort would find him. If he did that would end quickly with his death. It wasn't concern for his family, they would be just fine. They were loyal to the Dark Lord through and through. No, the worst part was Draco did not know what to do next. His whole life had been planned out for him when he was born. He would attend Hogwart's, be sorted into Slytherin, and then serve the Dark Lord as one of his trusted Death Eaters. Now that he had failed and the Dark Lord wanted him dead there was no turning back to that life, so what now?

The way he saw it he only had two options; run and hid or play for the other team. Both options presented difficulties. With no wand or money it became virtually impossible to run to the continent. If he could just get off the island he could disappear and start a new life. Find some quaint little wizarding village in the middle of absolutely nowhere and live his life as quietly as possible. To make this happen he would need help. He couldn't turn to any of his friends; they would turn him in so fast he wouldn't have time to do anything about it. He couldn't turn to family; they were almost all Death Eaters themselves. That left only one person, the one person who knew where he was, his oldest enemy Harry Potter. Convincing Potter to help him would be difficult.

The other option was to help him. After everything the Dark Lord had done to him he would enjoy giving him a little payback and he knew Potter planned on taking to fight to him. If he joined up with Potter, and was accepted, he might die but would do it on his terms. This did present a problem for him though. What would happen if he came face to face with his mother or father? He didn't think he could hurt his father and he knew he could never harm his mother. He did know however that a decision had to be made soon or he wouldn't survive the winter.

Either option was going to require the assistance of Potter. Draco stepped outside and called for his owl. He attached a short hand written note addressed to Harry Potter and sent the bird on its way.

Authors Note: Sorry it took so long to post this one, I have been very busy. I really appreciate everyone who has followed this story so far as well as those of you reading for the first time that decide to review. I am looking for some new stories to check out so let me know if you have a good one that I haven't read yet.


	7. Chapter 7

As Hermione opened the door Ron's face turned red. Standing outside of the door was one person he didn't expect to see. He had prepared himself for Snape or maybe a member of the order but not for this person. Looking back on it years later he realized that he should have known it would be her, she was never one to take no for an answer.

Ginny stood there in the hallway wearing a mixed expression. It seemed to change instantly from one of guilt from eavesdropping, to one of anger for having to be left out, while all at the same time one of sadness. The sadness was due to the fact that now she had committed the second strike against Harry. First she delivered an ultimatum that she had regretted ever since, and now she had been caught doing the one thing he had asked her not to do.

Ron was the first to speak. "Ginny, what in the bloody hell are you doing out there? We almost hexed you into next week."

Ginny just stood there for a moment trying to collect her thoughts. When she finally did speak it was in a very quiet voice. "I'm sorry Harry. I'm sorry for everything. I shouldn't have told you to take me back or leave for good and I shouldn't have been listening in at the door. I won't blame you if you never talk to me again but I had to come here and let you know. I couldn't stand it if you thought we were over for good and I had to tell you. When I get here I had every intention of knocking on that door and telling you but I could hear you talking and the next thing I knew I was listening in."

Hermione and Ron both looked at Harry as if they had no idea what to say. Harry stood there staring at Ginny with a look of total confusion. Finally he turned around and went into the bathroom. He didn't trust himself to speak. He too was feeling a mix of emotions. Part of him wanted to scream at Ginny for listening in on him and not respecting his wishes. Another part of him wanted to reach out and grab her, hold her in his arms and not let go.

Ron and Hermione sat at the table. "How much did you hear Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"Not much, I was only out there for a minute before you opened the door. I heard enough to realize that Harry isn't what he seems to be. Wandless and nonverbal magic that he inherited from Merlin himself. I didn't hear how or why, but I heard that much."

Harry came back into the room and sat down on the bed. He looked at his friends and then at Ginny. "Ron, I want you to take Ginny and head back to the burrow. She's heard enough that she might as well hear the rest so tell her everything. I'll talk to her tomorrow but I don't trust myself enough to do it tonight. Hermione why don't you go with them? We both know Ron won't get it right without you there to make him stick to the facts. We'll all meet here again tomorrow; I need to get some rest."

"Sure Harry," Ron replied "we'll see you in the morning."  
Hermione got up and hugged Harry. Ginny started to go to him but when she saw the look in his eyes she thought better of it and walked out the door. "Bye Harry."

"Are you sure she should know Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah I think so. We've been talking about bringing someone else in on this anyhow. Someone has to know what we're doing in case we get hurt or killed. Might as well be Ginny. I just wish she hadn't made me decide this way."

"I know Harry but don't be too hard on her. She loves you and she always has. She's told me so many times over the years that I got tired of hearing it." Hermione smiled and walked out the door.

Now that Harry was alone he went to his usual spot by the window. He tried to be mad at Ginny but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't. All of his thoughts would return to the good times they'd had last year at Hogwarts. He knew that he loved her and that he would give anything to be with her, but that couldn't be right now could it? How could he put her in harms way and still have the clear mind that he needed in order to perform this task? But what if Dumbledore was right and love was what he needed to defeat Voldemort? If he drove her away he could be signing his own death sentence.

As he stood there looking out the window he noticed that a large barn owl was slowly making its way to his window. It landed on the sill and started pecking at the glass. Harry opened the window and took the small piece of parchment tied to its leg and it flew off.

Potter,  
We need to talk. Meet me by the ruins of Hagrid's old hut this evening at dusk. Come alone and bring food.  
Draco

Back at the Burrow Ron and Hermione were telling the tale of their adventures to Ginny. She didn't say much but the look of horror on her face was clear. She now knew the whole ugly truth of it. They told her about the prophesy and she gasped, they told her about the horcruxes and she cried. It wasn't until they started telling her about the crystal that she finally spoke up.

"I don't understand, why didn't Professor Dumbledore ever tell Harry about this before? This is kind of a big deal you know."

Ron just looked confused and Hermione answered. "Ginny this is a theory, nobody knows for sure if the magic from the crystal transferred into Harry but it makes sense. He's always had a knack for the things Merlin himself was known for and his eyes were apparently brown when he was a baby. Perhaps Professor Dumbledore was waiting for some additional evidence or just didn't think the time was right yet."

"Yeah Ginny, Dumbledore held back loads of stuff from Harry in the past, why would this be any different. I don't think he planned for Snape to kill him on the tower that night. He had been doing those special lessons with him maybe that was going to be the next lesson covered." Ron added.

Ginny finally let the emotion she had been feeling the most lately surface, anger. "But why in the hell does it have to be him? Why not one of the Order or one of the other adults. Why is it always Harry running off to get himself killed? I'm so sick of all this shit." She stood up and grabbed the nearest thing she could, a small glass figurine, and threw it against the wall where it shattered into a million pieces. Once she realized what she had done she started crying. Hermione motioned for Ron to leave the room and went over to Ginny.

"I know this must be hard for you Ginny but you need to understand that Harry is the only one who can do this. You wouldn't believe some of the things I've seen him do over the last few months. He really is a very powerful wizard."

"So what can I do to help? If you lot think I'm just going to sit on the sidelines and keep quiet while I wait for my man to comeback from the war you have me mistaken for someone else. I told Harry I wouldn't insist upon coming along but there must be something I can do."

"I'm sure there will be things that come up now that you are in on it that you can do from time to time but most of what we are doing involves hands on work. To tell you the truth it would be nice to have another wand with us but Harry is right in thinking you would be too much of a distraction for him. Ron and I are enough of a distraction to each other but in the end its Harry that needs to be the most focused."

"I know Hermione. It doesn't mean I have to like it though." Ginny replied.

The two got up and left the room to go and find Ron and talk about how Ginny could help. When they found him he was sound asleep on the living room couch.

Harry didn't know what to do about the situation with Draco. For starters he didn't like the location Draco had chosen at all. Since Professor Dumbledore had died a lot of the wards protecting the Hogwarts grounds had lifted but the anti apparition ward was still in place. Apparently it was put on the school by the founders and could never be lifted. This posed a tactical problem for Harry. He would have to apparate into Hogsmeade and walk the rest of the way. If this was a trap to lure him into the open he wouldn't be able to apparate away and would be a sitting duck.

Then there was the issue of going at all. Draco had given him the crystal and did seem to be genuine when he described how he was on the run from Voldemort but what would he want now?

Draco did have more knowledge of Voldemort's location and inner workings than anyone else who may be willing to help him. In the end he decided that the potential gain outweighed the risk and that he would have to see what Draco wanted.

He left from the Hogshead and apparated into Hogsmeade. It was an unusually warm night and the walk towards the school combined with his nerves made him work up a pretty good sweat. He had stopped at a bakery and picked up a few loaves of bread as well as some sandwich meat and some sausages from a local butcher. He imagined that Draco must be fairly hungry trying to make it on his own in the Forbidden Forest for so long.

Harry approached the Hogwart's grounds and removed him wand. He set the satchel with the food in it behind a bush and slowly crept just inside the edge of the forest until he could see Draco sitting against the ruins of Hagrid's hut. He crouched down and remained in place for a few minutes looking around for some sign of a trap. Once he was satisfied that none existed he stood up and walked towards Draco.

"I would think that someone being hunted the way you are would take more care than to sit out in the open like this. How you've avoided being caught this long is a wonder to me Draco."

"The worst thing that would happen to me if he caught me at this point is death; at least I wouldn't have to hide anymore. Did you bring any food?" Draco had always been lean but he looked like a skeleton.

"Acio Food Bag!" Harry said and the bag came flying towards him. He handed it to Draco who slung it over his shoulder and motioned for Harry to follow him.

"Where are you taking me Draco?" Harry asked.

"There is an abandoned hut in the forest that I've been staying in for a while. They haven't found me yet there so I thought we would go there to talk."

"Alright I'll play along for now." Harry said as he followed Malfoy into the forest. He didn't like being here as the sun was going down. The last time he was in the forest the Centaurs had warned him not to return and they were not a lot to be trifled with. As they walked he kept his wand at the ready and they eventually arrived at the run down old shack Draco had called home for the last few months.

"Home sweet home Potter. Come inside and we'll talk." Draco motioned for Harry to go first and when he declined went ahead. When Harry stepped inside he couldn't help but feel a small amount of pity for his old nemesis. The hut was small and cold. The roof was sagging against the weight of the makeshift roof and there was no place for a fire to keep him warm. Draco had obviously been roughing it.

Draco sat down and began devouring a loaf of bread. "I suppose I should thank you Potter. This is the closest thing I've had to a meal since the night the old man died." Draco said through a mouth full of bread.

"Why am I here Draco? Surely you didn't want me to just bring you some food and talk about old times."

Draco sat the bread down and looked up at Harry. This was it, it was decision time. Should he abandon the idea or ask for help.

"I need your help Potter. I wouldn't blame you if you told me off but hear me out."

Harry motioned for him to continue.

"I'm stuck Potter. I don't have a wand or any money. Winter is coming and if I stay here I will surely freeze to death or eventually the inhabitants of this forest will tire of me and finish me off. On top of all that I have every Death Eater out there looking for me day and night. I'm tired of hiding. The way I see it I've run out of options. I need you to help me out, and let me help you if possible. I know we've never gotten along and I'm prepared to say it's my fault. My whole life my father told me about how great the Dark Lord was and how I would be privileged to serve him one day. He always talked about the cause. He blinded me I can see that now. When you refused my hand in our first year I knew that you were going to stand in the way of that cause and set out to be your enemy. I was wrong, I know that now. All this nonsense about purebloods and such. It doesn't matter does it? I mean the man who leads the pureblood movement is himself a half blood along with Snape. I guess what I'm trying to say before I tell you why I brought you here is that I'm sorry."

Harry stood there with a confused look on his face. He stood up and did a little circle around the room while trying to collect his thoughts.

"The reason I brought you here as I said before is because I need your help and you need mine. I can't live out my life here in the forest and you can't live out your life without killing the Dark Lord first. I think we can help each other. You get me out of here, get me a wand and somewhere to stay and I'll help you fight the Dark Lord. I owe him one for what he did to me. What do you say?"

Harry stopped pacing and just looked at Draco dumbfounded. The reason he felt so confused is because he actually believed him. He didn't know why but it all seemed to make perfect sense to him. Draco would help and Ginny would come along and everything would work itself out. He suddenly felt quite confused about everything.

"I will need some time to think about this Draco. You stay here, I will discuss it with Ron and Hermione. We'll be back tomorrow night." Harry stood up and left a very confused looking Draco sitting in the middle of the room stuffing his face.

Authors Note: I was feeling quite odd when I wrote the last part where Harry confronts Draco and do not know what to think about it. It feels to me as though it is rather random. Perhaps I should rewrite it. What do you think? Oh and I am very sorry about the time span between this post and the last, I went on vacation. Please tell me how you like it so far.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry found himself standing in the most beautiful field he had ever seen. All around him were wildflowers and bright green grass. A stream ran through the middle of the field and he could see fish swimming just below the surface. This was a dream, but he could control his actions. This could only mean one thing.

"Kind of a different choice of scenery for you isn't it Tom? You usually choose dark corridors or graveyards. Are you going soft?" Harry asked with a barely suppressed laugh. He knew in his mind he didn't need to be scared, yet.

"Harry, I see that fool Dumbledore has rubbed off on you. No one calls me Tom anymore, the name is dead, much like the man it came from. I have chosen this setting out of your memories; you seemed to like it here. If you remember correctly this is one of your favorite places. I want you to be comfortable Harry." Voldemort said with the closest thing to a smile his deformed face could manage.

"Well this is unlike you TOM. You concerned with the welfare of another? Let's not play games, what do you want? You usually just bounce around in my head and give me a headache. It's quite annoying you know."

Voldemort shot daggers at Harry for a moment and then quickly regained his composure. "Harry I have tried to convince you that we don't have to be enemies but it is you who is hell bent on our mutual destruction. I have come to offer you an exchange. You have something I want, and I don't have something you want."

"You truly have lost your serpentine mind haven't you? Do you have any idea how that sounds?"

"Harry whenever I enter your mind there are a brief few seconds where you are unaware of me. It's not long but it's enough for me to see the things you don't keep guarded very well. This evening for instance I saw the face of a young man I have been spending a great amount of time trying to find. The face of a sheep that has strayed from the herd. You know where Draco is Harry. I want him. He failed me Harry and that cannot go unpunished. Think about the precedent it would set. If I let all of my followers get away with failing me what would that do to efficiency?"

"Why would I tell you Tom? I may not like Draco but he's a human being after all."

"I know what you hold dear Harry. Did you really think you could hide it from me? So far I have left the blood traitor Weasley clan alone, for the most part. Call it my trump card if you will. I could send my death eaters to that excuse for a home they call the Burrow and make short work of them easily. My followers would enjoy that quite a bit."

"It's an empty threat Tom, you don't even know where it is. The home is unplottable."

"It is true that under normal circumstances it would prove quite a challenge. Something has recently changed that inconvenience though. One of my followers seems to know exactly how to get there. I believe you know him, Percy Weasley? It seems that not everyone in that family is a blood traitor after all." Voldemort was extremely pleased with himself.

Harry on the other hand was livid. How could Percy do this? He had always known that Percy was a git and that his ambition was too big to do anyone any good but to sink to this level was unthinkable. What if Voldemort was lying?

"How do I know you're telling me the truth Tom? You've always been quick to tell a lie when it suits you. I don't think you can even tell the difference anymore."

"Come, come Harry. I would not lie to you while trying to conduct an honest negotiation. That would be uncivilized. But if you must have proof I think it can be provided. Go to the Weasley home and look at that clock they have. You will notice that the only hand not pointing to mortal peril will be his. That may change once you are convinced he has changed to our side but for the moment he is quite safe. I will give you one day to make up your mind. Tomorrow night we will continue our discussion."

Harry woke with a start but noticed that most of the side effects normally associated with one of their encounters were not present. He hadn't been sweating and the headache that usually felt like a jackhammer had been pounding away at his skull was barely noticeable.

He went to the table and wrote a short note to Ron to get Hermione and Ginny and meet him at Abe's home immediately. He tied it to his faithful owl's leg and sent him off with instructions to get it to Ron right away no matter what he had to do. He then quickly got dressed and went through the door in his room to use the fireplace downstairs in the bar to floo over to Abe's house. As he was about to say the words that would take him their, he remembered that Voldemort had mentioned something about the clock. He quickly made up his mind that he had to see for himself despite Mr. Weasley having asked him not to return.

"The Burrow!" Harry shouted and threw the powder into the flames quickly being engulfed by the green flames. Everything became a blur and Harry felt the unsettling sensation of being pulled through the network. He came out on the other end and promptly slid onto his but.

"What's that, who's there?" Harry heard the voice of Molly Weasley shout as she came running into the room with her wand drawn.

"Oh Harry dear it's you, wonderful to see you." Molly said as she rushed over to give Harry a very tight but motherly hug. "The most wonderful thing has happened Harry, I've been so excited. When I got up this morning I noticed that Percy's hand on the clock had moved from Mortal Peril to Traveling. Isn't that wonderful? I may not have him here with me but at least he has had the sense to get out of this country. What's wrong Harry dear you look pale?"

Harry's face went as pale as a ghost as he excused himself and ran up the stairs to Ron's room. He threw open the door to find Ron getting dressed and defending himself from Hedgwig, who kept pecking him in the hand repeatedly.

"Harry, thank God. Get this ruddy owl off me will you?"

Harry looked at Hedgwig and nodded his head. The bird immediately quit nipping at Ron and flew out the window.

"What did you want to see us about so soon Harry? That ruddy owl almost ate me for breakfast. Wait you're not supposed to be here, what's wrong, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Ron but I had to see it for myself, we need to get your family to headquarters right away. I don't have time to explain but we need them out of here right now."

"Alright Harry I'll get Ginny and Hermione. You go tell the others."

Just then Harry heard a scream coming from downstairs and both he and Ron went running down the steps, wands drawn, and into the kitchen. When they got there they found Molly sitting at the table crying.

"What's wrong Mum? Why were you screaming?" Ron asked.

"Oh I'm sorry dear. I was so happy to see that your brother Percy was no longer in danger, but as soon as you left the room Harry the dial went back to Mortal Peril. I don't know what I'll do if I lose any of you."

Harry looked at her and his heart broke. He knew that he was now the reason Percy was in danger, not Voldemort. He knew that if he saw him, he wouldn't hesitate to do what needed to be done to rid the world of another death eater.

"Molly, listen to me very closely. I need you to take Ginny and go to Grimauld Place right now. There isn't time to explain but I will soon."

Molly looked at him and was about to protest until she saw the determined look in his eyes. She wiped her face off and stood up. "Alright Harry dear, but you will explain this to me when we get there, no more secrets."

Ginny and Hermione came down the stairs looking confused. "Harry what's going on?" Asked Ginny.

"No time to explain, get dressed and go with your mother. Hermione get your things and give them to Ginny. We need to go somewhere before we head to Grimauld."

"Alright Harry I won't be a minute. Come give us a hand Ron."

Harry turned to speak with Mrs. Weasley. "You should contact the rest of your family immediately and tell them not to return here until we get this sorted out. I need to go see someone and then we will meet you at headquarters. You should probably get as many members of the order together as you can. When I get there I will have two extra people with me. Instruct Professor McGonagall that I will need her to adjust the wards around the house to allow anyone with me to enter. She can change them back once we're inside. This is very important Molly; you can't let her say no to this. Say whatever you have to. Tell her it's my house, tell her anything but I'm bringing both of these people with me rather they like it or not."

"I'll see what I can do Harry dear."

Hermione and Ron came down the stairs followed closely by Ginny. Mrs. Weasley and her daughter said their goodbyes and left for Grimauld Place. As soon as they left Harry turned to his friends and told them they were headed for Abe's house.

"Alright Harry but what's going on?" Hermione asked him with a very concerned look on his face.

"I don't want to have to tell this story more than once. As soon as we get Abe everything will be explained."

"Alright Harry let's go."

The trio went outside and apparated to a spot about 250 meters from the border of Abe's home. They began to walk to the house cautiously, scanning the area the entire way. When they arrived at the door Harry reached up to knock but before he had the opportunity the door swung open to reveal a smiling Aberforth Dumbledore.

"What a pleasant surprise. We weren't supposed to meet up again until tomorrow. Come in and make yourselves at home."

"We need to talk. Some things have happened over the last few days and I need some advice."

"Well of course, that's what I'm here for. Come into the kitchen and tell me what's on your mind."

They made their way into the kitchen and sat around the large table. Harry told them about the encounter with Malfoy and the offer he had made to help them with their quest. As Harry expected Ron was the first to speak up.

"You can't seriously be considering letting him in on all of this can you Harry? He's a jerk, how do we know this isn't all some scheme to find out what we're up to?"

"We don't Ron, but I believed him."

Hermione sat there quietly but it was obvious she wanted to say something.

Harry looked over at her and raised his eyebrows in a gesture urging her to speak her mind.

"I don't know Harry. I'm always the first to try to find the good in people and think of you as paranoid. I was the first to defend him last year but I was wrong. My judgment isn't the best when it comes to these things."

"That's ridiculous Hermione. You're the smartest person I know and I want your opinion."

"I think we should hear him out together. See how he reacts to all of us instead of just you."

Aberforth finally spoke up. "I agree with Miss Granger, I would like to go with you though. I have always been an impeccable judge of character."

"Alright that settles that for now. As soon as we're finished here we'll go talk to him. There's something else. Voldemort contacted me through a dream last night."

Ron and Hermione were used to this and didn't react but Abe looked concerned.

"Based on the reaction of your friends may I assume this has happened before?"

"We share a link through my scar. I can't explain how it works but I know it does."

"I understand, please continue."

"He wanted to make an exchange. He said he knew where the Burrow was and that he was prepared to leave it alone if I handed over Malfoy."

Ron looked at Harry with a mixture of shock and fury. "How could he have found the Burrow? He's been looking for us for a long time but it's unplottable."

"What I'm about to say won't be pleasant but I believe he's telling the truth. He told me that someone had betrayed you. He told me to go to your house and look at your parent's clock with all of you on it. He said that one of the hands would no longer be in danger and he was right. It was Percy Ron."

Ron looked down at the table and sighed. "Why would he do that Harry?"

"He told me that Percy had joined him Ron. He's a death eater now."

Ron just sat there staring at the table as an unnatural quiet surrounded them. Finally he looked up at Harry with a blank expression. "Then he's no longer my brother. When we find him, he get's treated just like every other death eater out there."

Hermione gasped at him. "Ronald you can't be serious. We've always known Percy was different but he's still your brother."

Ron looked over at Hermione like she had just sprouted a third head. "Not anymore he's not. No brother of mine would do something like this. I don't want to talk about this right now, I need time to think. Let's go talk to Malfoy."

"That is probably a good idea. Harry have you told the other Weasleys about this. It is no longer safe at their home." Abe said.

"I haven't told them the specifics but they are at Order Headquarters. I told them not to go back home for now."

"A wise precaution Harry, well, shall we?" Abe got up and walked towards the door and the trio followed him outside.

"Where are we going Harry?" Hermione asked.

"He's hiding in the forbidden forest. We should apparate into Hogsmeade and walk from there."

Ron was already forming a plan in his mind. He would get the answers he wanted, one way or another.

Authors Note: I would like to once again thank everyone who has supported me thus far. I would especially like to thank everyone who has reviewed. If you havn't reviewed shame on you LOL.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 6

"There it is. That's where he's been living." Harry told the other three that were with him while he pointed in the direction of the cottage. He scanned the area quickly and saw no sign of Draco. Perhaps he wasn't as stupid as he looked. He probably had something set up so he could hide if anyone approached.

"Well where is ferret boy then? I don't see him anywhere."

Hermione punched Ron in the arm and he backed off raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Ron if we're going to do this we should at least try to be civilized." Hermione chastised.

Abe stood watching the two and smiled. He remembered all too well what it meant to be young and in love. "Well as much as I like standing around in the forest taking in the sights I believe we should proceed. There are things that need to be discussed both here and elsewhere if I am not mistaken." Without waiting for a debate he stood and walked toward the cottage. "Mister Malfoy, my name is Aberforth Dumbledore. I have come here with Harry Potter and his friends. I believe you know of whom I speak. If you would be so kind as to please show yourself we can begin to discuss the reason for our presence."

A few seconds of silence passed as the four of them stood there. Finally the quiet was broken as Draco spoke up from the tree line. "You didn't say anything about bringing him Potter."

"What difference does it make who I bring? Do you want my help or not?"

Draco emerged from the other side of the cottage looking weary. Hermione gasped when she saw how thin he had become but Ron just stared with a smirk on his face. No matter what happened, Ron would never trust him. The appearance of the once cocky Slytherin did strengthen his resolve to get some answers though.

"We should go inside if we're going to talk. It's not safe out here where anyone could see us." Draco told the group.

"Very well Mister Malfoy, after you." Abe responded and they followed Draco into the run down hut.

"Alright Draco tell them what you told me. If you want my help you're going to have to convince them. They may have some questions; you would be wise to keep your snide comments to yourself." Harry motioned for Draco to begin his tale.

Draco looked at the faces around the room and began to tell them about his experiences since that night last spring on the astronomy tower. He told them how he was supposed to have killed their former headmaster but couldn't bring himself to do it. He explained the torture he had faced at the hands of Voldemort and of his escape.

When he was finished he turned to Hermione and began to speak again. "I owe you all an apology for the way that I've acted toward you over the last six years. I know I can't make up for the things I've done but I swear to you I've changed." He looked down into his lap and continued. "I especially owe you an apology Granger. I was raised my whole life that purity of blood was the most important thing a wizard can have. If your blood wasn't pure you were beneath us. I was wrong."

Ron looked at him for a long minute before finally speaking up. "It's easy to talk about changing Malfoy. I could tell you that I've changed and don't hate you anymore for the things you've done but that wouldn't make it true."

Malfoy was about to speak up but Abe cut him off. "Unfortunately for your case Mister Malfoy I believe Ron is correct. There is however a way to prove your supposed change of heart is genuine. I happen to have in my possession a small vial of veritaserum. If you are willing to ingest a small amount I believe we can have this all worked out in no time at all. We do have a rather important meeting after all Harry."

"I'll do it." Malfoy said immediately.

"Very well Mister Malfoy. Please hold out your tongue. I will be giving you four drops of the potion. Normally three are used but we do need to be absolutely sure."

Draco held out his tongue and Abe put four precise drops into his mouth. They watched for a moment as Draco's body relaxed and his eyes began to gloss over.

Abe asked the first question. "Have you been telling us the truth about your treatment at the hands of Lord Voldemort?"

"Yes."

"Is your statement that you no longer wish to serve Voldemort true?"

"Yes."

"If we offered you a way to assist in the demise of Voldemort would you provide us the information needed?"

"Yes."

"Are you a spy for Voldemort?"

"No."

"Are you in any way acting under his orders or influence?"

"No."

Abe looked at the others as if to say he was satisfied. Harry asked the next question.

"Where was the last place you saw Voldemort?"

"The muggle orphanage he grew up in."

Ron stepped forward and asked the next question. "Is my brother Percy a Death Eater?"

"Yes."

Ron recoiled with shock as he finally accepted the truth. "How long?"

"He received the mark along with me a little over a year ago."

Ron stepped outside to get some air while the questioning continued. Hermione was the next to ask a question.

"Are you sincere when you claim to have had a change of heart in regards to muggle born wizards?"

"I want to be. Sometimes I still find myself thinking along those lines but I know they are rubbish. Those thoughts are a part of me but I no longer want them."

Abe spoke next. "I believe the potion has had the desired effect Harry. That was a very truthful answer. Those thoughts will always be part of him. If he had answered with a simple no I may have had reason to believe he had managed to fight off its effects but now I am fairly certain he is sincere."

"What do you think Hermione?"

"I believe him Harry."

"So do I. I think we should take him to Grimauld and give him to the order. They'll know what to do with him." Harry walked over to Malfoy and gestured for him to stand up. "As a precaution we're going to bind you and cover your eyes. You'll probably stay like that for some time."

"Whatever it takes Potter. Let's just get out of this place. I can't stand it here any longer." The potion had obviously worn off.

"Well let's just hope Professor McGonagall made those changes to the wards. Do you know where Grimauld is Abe?"

"Yes I do Harry."

"Well then, Hermione go and get Ron. Let's get this over with."

Hermione stepped outside for a moment and returned with a visually upset Ron. The group made their way into Hogsmeade.

"Since you don't know how to get there Draco you will need to do a side along apparition. Abe I think you should do that, you're more experienced."

"A good idea Harry. Shall we then?"

Harry looked at each of his companions and with a nod and a pop they all disappeared.

When they reappeared at Grimauld it was in the middle of a bustle of activity. It all stopped when they saw the two people Harry had with him. Harry looked around the room and saw a lot of familiar faces as well as many he had never seen before. One of the new faces was the first to speak up.

"What the hell did you bring him here for? Don't you know who that is?" The man that Harry would later learn was named William Thomas almost screamed as he pointed at Draco.

"I do know who he is. You would be wise to remember who I am seeing as how this is my house and I am entitled to bring anyone here I please. I don't seem to recall inviting you." Harry shot back with a murderous glare.

Remus walked up and stood between Harry and Will. "Calm down Will, I'm sure Harry has his reasons for bringing Draco here. Abe, it's been a long time." Remus walked over to Abe and shook his hand. "It's good to see you Harry." He walked over to Harry and the two embraced in a hug. "Now let's get your new friend Draco here into the other room and talk about this new development. There seems to be a few things we need to discuss."

"Alright Remus but Hermione will stay with him."

"But I…"

Harry cut her off before she could finish. "Hermione I want you in there to make sure they treat him like the guest he is in what is still my home."

Hermione understood and nodded as she took Draco into the kitchen. She was followed by three of the others Harry had never met.

Professor McGonagall was the next to speak up as she approached the remaining three. "Harry, Ron, Abe it's good to see you are all healthy. Let's go into the parlor and discuss the purpose for this visit." McGonagall pursed her lips and turned to lead them into the parlor. Almost everyone in the room turned to follow. When they arrived Harry turned to Remus.

"I'm prepared to discuss what we've been doing with you but I have a few conditions first."

Remus looked at Harry with a looked that conveyed his understanding and Harry continued.

"Everyone leaves this room accept you, Professor McGonagall, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley."

"I think that can be arranged can't it Minerva."

"Of course Harry."

Once everyone had left the room Harry spoke up again. "What we are about to discuss is very sensitive. In order to have this conversation I will need each of you to give me your word that this will not leave the room. No one else in the order can hear this."

"I would think it would be for us to decide who can and cannot be trusted Harry." McGonagall said barely hiding her lack of patience for all of this.

"Agree or I leave right now. I considered asking you to take unbreakable vows but I trust you all to keep your word."

"It would appear we have no choice then doesn't it Harry." Remus said with a slight grin.

"I have your word then?" Everyone nodded in acceptance. "Have Fred and George been made members of the order yet?"

Molly spoke up. "No they haven't Harry, I wouldn't allow it."

"Good. My next condition was that they not be allowed to join until I get a chance to speak with them. Since that doesn't seem to be an issue we can move on to the last condition."

"And what would that be Harry?" Remus asked.

"You will immediately stop having me followed. And that applies to everyone I brought with me tonight with the exception of Malfoy. If he's with me however that same courtesy will be given him. I am willing to let the people in this room know what we're doing but I will not be followed and I will not be treated like a child."

"You knew you were being followed then. That would explain how you lost them so easily." Remus said.

Harry was about to answer but Ron beat him to it. "Of course we knew we were being followed. We're not stupid."

McGonagall and Molly both took on stern looks but Remus just laughed. "No I don't imagine you are Ron. What exactly are you suggesting Harry?"

"A partnership between the order and us. I can't speak for Abe; he's simply helping me understand a few things but the rest of us are willing to start cooperating. We don't have any desire to join up with the order but I don't see why we can't work together."

Molly couldn't take it any more. "I have heard enough of this. Ronald you will go home this instant and stay there until I get home. You are too young to be trying…"

Arthur stood up and cut her off in mid sentence. "Now Molly we agreed to hear them out and we will. I know you have never let go of the four youngest but it's time to face facts. There is a war going on and Ron is right in the middle of it. I don't like it any better than you do but he is of age and he is Harry's best friend. When they became friends all those years ago we knew that eventually this might happen."

Molly looked at her husband in shock. He had never stood up to her like this before. She was so shocked that all she could do was sit down and wear a confused look on her face.

McGonagall spoke up next. "Harry will the three of you please sit down?" Harry hadn't realized it but himself, Ron and Abe were the only three standing. They looked at each other and wordlessly decided to sit.

"Now I have come to expect a certain level of defiance due to their situation and youth out of Harry, Ron and Hermione but Abe you are old enough to know better than this. We've begged you to return to the order and you have flat out refused. Why are you helping them?"

"I almost didn't Minerva. In the end Harry reminded me too much of his Mother to refuse him when he came to me for help."

McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Harry Potter asked for your help. Miracles never cease."

Remus sighed and looked at Minerva speaking directly to her. "This is pointless and isn't getting us anywhere. Now are we going to agree to his terms and hear him out or are we going to argue all night?"

McGonagall sighed as well and looked around the room. "Very well but I have a few demands of my own. First you need to know Harry that the order has changed a little since Albus died. I am not in charge, there is a counsel. If we are going to make any decisions they need to be brought in on it as well."

"Who are they?" Ron asked.

"Alistor Moody and Tonks. You know them both and I trust them completely."

"Alright I agree. You can go get them now if you like." Harry replied.

"Next I expect an explanation as to the appearance of Mister Malfoy. If I remember correctly the two of you hate each other."

"You will of course get one Professor."

"Finally you need to understand something. We will agree to work together I am sure but don't expect us to take orders from you Harry. I believe that we have been doing this a little longer than you."

"I never expected anything less. Keep in mind that will go both ways. It's the reason we don't want to be a part of your order."

As the professor was about to respond Tonks and Mad Eye came through the door. "Watcher Harry." Tonks said when she saw him.

"Hi Tonks." Harry replied.

"Harry was just laying out some demands for us Moody." Remus said with a grin.

"Figures. The boy has always had a certain disregard for authority hasn't he? Probably kept him alive though." Moody responded.

"What were these demands?" Tonks asked. Minerva told the two new arrivals and after a brief discussion they agreed.

"There is one more thing I should mention before we continue. Ginny knows most of what I'm about to tell you."

Molly gasped but Arthur calmly held her forearm and spoke up. "I thought we had agreed to keep her out of this Harry?"

"We did Sir and I apologize."

"We caught her eavesdropping on us Dad and by the time we knew she was there she had already heard too much. We told her the rest so that someone would know what we've been up to in case we were hurt." Ron added.

"Smart thinking if you ask me." Moody added.

"Well no one did Mad Eye!" Molly said no longer able to contain herself.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley. Since she already knows this I think she should be included as well." Harry added.

Molly started to protest but decided against it. After collecting herself she nodded at Harry and went to get her daughter.

Tonks looked around the room and once Molly and Ginny returned she looked at Harry. "Well why don't we start with you telling us what you've been up to. To be honest we've been dying to know."

Harry nodded and told them the tale of his adventures over the last several months. There were several gasps as he told the tale especially when they learned of the existence of the Horcruxes. He told them the about how they had destroyed them all and were now beginning to focus on Voldemort himself. They learned of the crystal and Abe's theory but the only one in the room who didn't know about that was Tonks since she was not in the order at the time it happened. When Harry stopped talking almost two hours later everyone was stunned at what the boy and his friends had accomplished but Remus was the first to speak up.

"It would appear that we have once again underestimated you Harry. It won't happen again, at least not with me." He had a look in his eyes that a mixture of wonder and pride.

"Thank you Remus."

"Now Harry let's talk about why you made the Weasley's leave their home this morning." McGonagall said.

"We talked about this on the way here and Ron thinks it would be best if he took his family into the kitchen to tell them with Hermione and Draco. I'll stay here and tell the rest of you."

Ron, Ginny and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley left the room. Focus again shifted to Harry as he told them about his dream and Percy. As he finished explaining these events to them a loud noise could be heard coming from the kitchen. Everyone stood up and ran to see what had happened. When they arrived they saw Draco sitting at the table still blindfolded and wearing a completely bewildered look on his face. Arthur was sitting at the table as pale as a ghost and Hermione and Ron were standing over Molly who was lying on the ground.

"She couldn't take it Harry." Ron said. "She just passed out."

Author's Note: Things will slow down a little bit now because I have caught up with what I have finished. I should be posting at least every other week at a worst case scenario. Look at the bright side, now I will have a little time to check out some of your stories!! I want to thank everyone who has read this and really thank everyone who reviews, they are inspirational for me. I have this story posted to this point of HPFF and it has received 4000 reads and 65 reviews but has been there since May. I have had this story on this site for less than a month and it has had 1000 reads and 13 reviews, that's awesome. I don't know if that is good for this site but it has made me very happy, you guys and gals rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Everyone in the room except Arthur and Draco quickly circled around the fallen form of Mrs. Weasley. Professor McGonagall reached out and gently shook her in an attempt to wake her. After several more attempts that were not as gentle as the first she finally began to come around.

"What happened?" She asked the group of people who were staring down at her.

"You seem to have passed out Molly." Replied the Professor as Harry and Ron helped her to a nearby chair. Realization dawned on her face as she quickly remembered the events that led to her waking on the cold floor. She looked over at her husband who was still very pale and staring off into the distance.

"Arthur are you alright?" She asked him with a concerned look on her face.

"No I don't believe I am dear, I don't believe I am." He looked over at her and the two embraced. As Harry watched this exchange he couldn't help but feel a little jealous that they were able to find such comfort in each others arms. He longed to be able to find such comfort when things got to be too much for him to handle but couldn't risk putting the only person he would consider for such a task in that kind of danger.

As Harry stood there watching the scene he felt a small hand slide into his and before he even had time to think about it he returned the gesture. He didn't need to look to know it was Ginny. Her touch felt different than anyone else's. He knew she too must in a great deal of pain after learning of her brother's betrayal.

"I think now would be a good time to consider removing Mr. Malfoy's blindfold Minerva. No harm can come from him seeing this kitchen." Abe finally said breaking the silence.

"Of course Abe how inconsiderate of me." She gestured to Hermione who understood and walked over to where Draco was sitting.

"Are you sure Professor? I'm sure he's been here before." Hermione quickly asked.

"I don't see what harm can come from his awareness of his location. He wouldn't be able to find this house again if he tried and since your arrival I have restored the wards protecting it. Go ahead Miss Granger." Hermione removed the blindfold from Draco who quietly thanked her and looked around the room.

"Hello Cousin." Tonks said to him.

"Nymphadora." Draco replied with a nod.

"If you're going to be here Draco please don't call me that. Everyone in the family knows how much I hate it. Please call me Tonks."

"Sorry, it's habit. I'll do my best. I didn't know you were a part of this. Mother always said you sympathized with the order but they didn't know you were a member."

"Good, I've tried hard to keep it that way. Let's see that it does." She replied.

"Don't worry Nymph….sorry, Tonks. My days serving the Dark Lord are over."

"I hope so Draco, I always liked you."

Draco looked at her with an astonished expression before regaining his composure and reverting to his typical scowl.

"Well now that your happy little reunion is over Tonks I think we have a few questions for this one." Moody added as he pulled up a chair to Draco.

"Look I don't expect you to welcome me into your little family here but I want you to know that my desire to help is sincere. Don't think it's entirely a selfless act either. The way I see it I either help you or I spend the rest of my life running. When this is over I will either be dead because The Dark Lord won or running for the rest of my life from the Ministry because you lot did. I figure this is the best way out for all of us. I will tell you everything I know about the Death Eaters but in return I want two things. I want to fight; I owe the bastard for what he did to me. When this is all over I also expect for you all to put in a good word for me with the Ministry. I'm willing to accept my fate for what I've been a part of but I don't think they'll kill me if they know I've helped out."

"Well I don't know about you but that definitely sounds like a Malfoy's way of thinking, no offense Tonks." Moody said as his magical eye rotated in the socket over to Tonks.

"None taken Mad Eye. Harry how did you find him, we've been looking for him everywhere and so has Voldemort?" She asked.

"Actually he found me one day while I was standing at Professor Dumbledore's tomb. I thought he was there for a fight but instead he gave me something his father had that had belonged to my mother. A few days ago he sent me a letter asking me to help him." Harry shifted his gaze over to Moody. "I don't know if I trust him yet Moody but I believe him." Moody looked at him and nodded.

"Well I think this is enough for one night." Remus said quickly. "Harry, you and your friends should stay here tonight. We've kept a room for each of you in case you came to your senses and decided to come back and I for one haven't forgotten that this is your House Harry. You will find that Sirius's old room is exactly the way you left it the last time you were here. We can continue our talk in the morning."

"Thanks Remus. You're right this is enough for one night but tomorrow I have some questions for you. I don't see any reason to keep Draco tied to that chair. If there are no objections I'm going to untie him." Harry looked around the room and while it was obvious that several of the people there were uneasy none of them voiced any objections.

"Draco do you know where you are?" Hermione asked.

"Of course, this is Black Manor. I suppose Sirius gave it to you when he died." Draco replied looking over at Harry.

"That's right Malfoy he did. Regardless of what anyone here says this is my house and you are my guest. You have free reign here but we have agreed to allow the order to use this as their headquarters. As long as you don't snoop into their business you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. If you step out of line you'll find yourself in Azkaban so fast you won't know how you got there."

"Don't worry about me Potter, I'm not stupid." Draco said with a scowl.

"Remus would you show him to a room and give him some of my clothes? He stinks."

"No problem Harry. Draco if you would come with me."

"Potter...thanks." Draco said sincerely before following Remus out of the room.

Harry nodded and then turned his attention to the Weasleys. He didn't know what to say. One of their own had turned against them and they were understandably heartbroken. He understood everyone's grief but Ron was puzzling him. He had immediately become cold. There was no grief or sorrow just an instant indifference. There was no doubt in his mind that Ron would take out Percy if they ever crossed paths.

"Molly, Arthur, I can't tell you how sorry I am."

They just looked over at him and nodded. They were still in a bit of shock from the news and the knowledge that their son had just become the enemy of most everyone in the room. Harry turned from the room and headed upstairs to the place he had been avoiding for some time now. As he opened the door to Sirius's room he was bombarded with memories. He went over to the bed and sat down burying his face into his hands and sighed. He had to stay strong. If he broke down now he may never be able to regain his composure.

A knock came from the door and Ginny stuck her head in. When she saw Harry sitting on the bed she sat down next to him and put her arm around him. Neither of them said anything for a long while and finally Ginny began to cry. It was more than Harry could take so he turned to her and wrapped his arms around her. They sank down into the bed and as she lay there crying into his chest he felt the dam bust and his own tears finally came flowing out of him. He cried for his parents, for Sirius, for Dumbledore and for his lost childhood. During all of this a strange thing happened. He began to feel better. He was finally allowing all of his sorrows to seep out of him and he felt empowered for it. Finally Ginny broke the silence.

"I'm sorry Harry. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting and for listening in on you at the Inn. I'm sorry that my git of a brother has sided against you and I'm sorry I came here and put all of this on you. I just needed you to hold me and make me feel the way you always make me feel when you hold me. I love you Harry and I can't lose you again."

Harry looked down at her face and knew that he couldn't lose her again either. Voldemort knew about her, he had told him so. There was no point in continuing to avoid her but he would never allow her to come along for the fight.

"What are we going to do Harry?"

"I will fight him. You'll stay here and do what you can to help but I need you to stay here." He replied with a firm but understanding voice.

"Alright Harry. Why are you in such a hurry to face him?"

"I have to kill him to keep everyone safe. I have to kill him to keep you safe Ginny."

"You would die to keep me safe?"

"I would spend an eternity in hell to keep you safe for one day Ginny. I love you too."

She buried her face back into his chest. They both fell asleep taking comfort in the others embrace.

Harry found himself in a familiar green field filled with flowers. He knew this was coming and had a plan.

"Hello Harry. I hope you have thought about this decision very carefully. We both know that Draco doesn't mean anything to you. I think it's a fair trade really. Before you answer, think about the young girl who is at this very moment sleeping soundly in your arms."

"You're right Tom Draco means nothing to me but why should I give him to you. The Weasleys are safe for now and I have something you want. As long as I have Draco I have a bargaining chip. If you want him you are going to have to come get him."

Voldemort grinned and raised his face into the sunlight. "You know Harry I have always loved the way the sun feels on my face on a pleasant day. You think of me as a man who loves the darkness but while I have chosen to reside there it is a temporary residence. Once I have rid the world of all the mud blood loving fools like you I will return to the sunshine." Voldemort turned away from Harry and walked towards the small stream. "What are you suggesting Harry?"

"I want you to come and get him from me so we can talk face to face. It's time to end this Tom. You meet me and we finish this. If you win you'll have Draco and my head, if you lose Draco doesn't matter anymore."

Voldemort turned around and faced Harry. He was no longer the serpent like Voldemort Harry had seen so many times in his dreams. He was the handsome seventeen year old boy he met in the chamber. "You have grown brave haven't you? You have a deal. One week from tonight at the graveyard where you were kind enough to help with my resurrection. Bring no one except Draco. I will bring one Death Eater and since you have allowed me to choose Draco to be at your side you may chose that Death Eater. If I find out you have brought anyone else I will leave and you will never see me in person again. I will unleash my Death Eaters on the muggle population and wreak havoc."

"I'm not the liar Tom. Bring Snape and no one else."

"I thought you might choose him Harry. I look forward to our meeting."

Harry woke up and sat up quickly, knocking Ginny off the bed.

"Ouch. What's wrong Harry?" Ginny said still half asleep.

"Sorry Ginny I had a dream. You should probably go back to your room before anyone finds you in here."

"Alright Harry, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine in the morning. I love you Ginny."

"I love you too Harry." Ginny said with a big smile on her face. She got up and kissed him on the cheek before leaving the room and silently moving down the hall. Harry waited a minute and then went to get Ron and Hermione. He found Ron in a room a few doors down the hall and Hermione at the end of it. He told both of them to meet him in his room and went off in search of Draco.

"Hello Harry."

Harry turned the corner and found Lupin sitting in a chair outside of door that must have been Malfoy's.

"Hello Lupin. How have you been?"

"I've been better Harry but I'm still alive so I can't complain. What are you doing wandering the hallway at this time of night? Having trouble sleeping?"

"Actually I came to see Malfoy. Is he in there?"

"Yes he is Harry, go ahead. I'll be out here if you need me."

"Thanks Lupin."

"Harry, are you mad at me?" Lupin asked with a genuine concern in his voice. He had been worried about how Harry would treat him since he found out he knew about his surveillance.

Harry looked at Lupin for a moment and understood what he meant. "No I don't think I am anymore Lupin. When we first figured out who had been following us I was furious but the more I thought about it the more I realized the position I put you in. You were just doing what you thought was right, if more people were willing to do that maybe we wouldn't be in this position right now."

Lupin smiled at him with what looked to Harry like pride. "When did it happen Harry?"

"When did what happen?"

"When did you grow up? It seems like just yesterday that you were in my classroom mad at the world and always throwing tantrums when things didn't go your way. Now you're not a child anymore."

"I don't have the luxury of being a child anymore. I'm going to talk with Draco for a minute but when I'm done would you come with us to my room?"

"Of course Harry. Oh and Harry, please call me Remus from now on. Like I said you're not a child anymore."

"Alright Remus, Thanks." Harry turned and opened the door to Draco's room. Draco was asleep in the bed. He walked over and sat in a chair in the corner.

"Wake up Draco."

Draco woke up with a start and out of habit reached for his wand only to quickly remember that he no longer had one. Draco looked at him with a curious expression.

"What do you want Potter?" Draco spat out.

"I had a visit from your former master tonight in a dream. He wants me to bring you to him."

Draco sat up in the bed and looked over at Harry. "What did you tell him?" Draco looked worried. He still didn't trust Harry any more than Harry trusted him.

"I told him I would, but there's a catch. He has to come and get you himself and he can only bring one of his Death Eaters, Snape."

"So after all I've told you you're just going to hand me over to him? I knew it was a mistake to trust you." Draco got up and started toward Harry with his fist balled up ready to strike. Harry waved his wand at Draco without a word and knocked him back into the bed.

"Calm down Draco I'm not just handing anyone over. You said you wanted a fight and that's what you're going to get, me and you against Voldemort and Snape."

"What about Ron and Hermione?" Draco asked.

"We are going to go talk to them now. They won't like it but they'll accept it. The question is do I really trust you Draco? Can I go into a fight with him knowing that no matter what you'll have my back? If not we can't do this."

"It doesn't matter what I say to you Potter. You've already heard me out but know this. If it wasn't for the situation you and I would still be enemies. We may never be friends but I need that thing to die. I can't live while he's still around."

Harry sat there staring at Draco trying to find some reason not to believe him. What he said struck home though. It turns out they did have something in common. They both needed Voldemort to die so they could get on with their lives. Once he was satisfied that he really didn't have much of a choice he told Draco to follow him. He got up and went out the door. Together with Remus they made their way to his room where Ron and Hermione were both waiting.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: I goofed. I had originally written chapter 10 in so that Harry asks Voldemort to bring Percy, but later changed my mind and made it Snape. A few caught that I didn't change the second name from Percy to Snape and pointed it out to me. I appreciate it and will fix it now that I have posted this note. Just to clarify things, Voldemort has been instructed to bring Snape.

I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed this story, especially my most faithful reviewers laureanna, carolquin, opungo, and harmswife. Your reviews help keep me going, even when I get a bad case of writers block.

One last thing. If you like the story, please recommend it to others.

Chapter 11

"Snape! You could have chosen any Death Eater and you chose Snape! Have you gone completely mental mate?" Ron practically screamed at Harry when he heard of his plan.

"You know I've been trying to get to him for months Ron. Every time that I get close he gets away. Not this time though." Harry replied.

"Ron's right Harry. Every time you get anywhere near Snape you allow your emotions to take over. You can't control yourself around him." Hermione said.

"I can't believe this! We finally get a chance to put that greasy headed jerk in his place and all the two of you can do is tell me that he'll get the better of me. If anything Snape being there will focus me more! This way the two people I want to take down most in the world will be in the same place. Draco can keep Snape busy while I fight Voldemort and then we gang up on Snape. What do you think Remus?" Harry asked the man sitting in the corner stroking his moustache.

Remus stood up and started pacing in front of the window. "Harry, stop and think about this for a minute. What happened the last time you faced Snape?"

He knew this would come up. "I'm not the same person I was that night. That night I was in pain, I wanted it to end. When I faced Snape I didn't have the confidence I have now and I didn't have half the knowledge I have now."

"Yes but he has almost thirty years of experience on you Harry and he has been……."

Hermione cut off Remus and spoke to Harry. "Show him Harry, he won't understand unless you show him."

Harry looked cautiously at Remus and tried to make up his mind. "Show me what Harry?" Remus asked cautiously.

"Do you see that vase over there on the dresser?" Remus nodded that he did see it. "Stick out your right hand." Remus did and Harry glanced over at the vase. He raised his hand and gestured with only the tips of his fingers and the vase flew across the room and landed in Remus' hand.

"Impressive Harry, you didn't spill a drop."

Harry grinned slightly and turned his hand upside down causing Remus to be forced into the air and suspended by his ankle. The water in the vase spilled out onto the floor.

"Very funny Harry. I get the point, you've developed. Now please put me down."

Draco was standing in the corner looking completely freaked out. "How in the bloody hell did you do that Potter? I don't see a wand and I didn't hear you say any incantations."

"It's a long story and I won't bore you with the details but lets just say there are very few spells I need a wand and words for anymore. You on the other hand are another story. Remus, where can we get Draco a new wand?"

"Well naturally Olivander would be my first choice but he's still missing. I know of a wand maker in Ireland. He's not as good as Olivander but we may be able to find something Draco can put to use."

"I need you to do me a favor then. Could you take him there tomorrow morning and help him get one?" Harry asked.

"Sure thing Harry. We'll have to go in disguise Draco. Voldemort's probably got all the wand makers on the island being watched. He knows that you need a new wand and if he can get to you before the meeting he won't have to face Harry."

Harry walked over to the dresser and took out a small bag of coins and threw them to Draco. "You'll need this if you're going to buy a wand. Also I want you to get some clothes and other things you need. Make sure to stretch that as far as you can. It's not easy for me to get to my vault so what I have has to last."

Draco took the bag and slid it into his pockets with a nod. His face was bright red and he was staring at the floor. The room was suddenly uncomfortable and Harry realized that what he meant as a kind gesture may have offended Draco. He would have to talk to him about it later.

"Well Harry if that's all the astounding news you have for us tonight I believe myself and Mr. Malfoy will be retiring for the night. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Remus said as he walked out the door with Malfoy in tow. "Oh, one more thing Harry. When will this little meeting take place?"

"Sorry Remus but I don't know yet. He'll contact me in a week and we will agree to a time and a place." Harry hated having to lie to his father's only remaining friend but he didn't have a choice. If he told Remus the truth about when and where they would be meeting he would tell the Order and they would interfere. He had to do this without their interference.

Remus nodded his understanding and left with Draco. Now that it was just the trio together Harry was bracing himself for another explosion but it didn't come. Instead, Hermione got up and walked over to him and gave him a hug. Ron walked over and put his hand on his friends shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"I won't say that I'm not angry and a little hurt that I'm not going but I understand why you did it Harry."

"Me too Harry." Hermione said and released the embrace grabbing Ron's hand instead.

"Thanks. For what it's worth I wish it was the two of you instead of Draco." Harry said as he sat in the corner chair Remus had been sitting in earlier.

"It's worth a lot to me Harry." Hermione said as she and Ron sat on the bed.

"So now that Remus is gone are you going to tell us when you are going to meet up with him?" Ron asked.

"That obvious was it?" Hermione and Ron both grinned and nodded at the same time. "Well we agreed to meet one week from tonight at the graveyard his father is buried in."

Hermione and Ron both looked a little startled. "That doesn't give us much time to prepare." Ron said. "We should go to the cemetery soon and scout it out. I may not be able to be there with you mate but I think I can help you develop a strategy for dealing with the terrain."

Harry smiled and looked over at Hermione. "Let me guess, you're going to pour yourself into some ancient book and find some spell that will miraculously save all our lives." He said with a grin.

"Actually no. I think we should go see Abe tomorrow while Remus and Draco are gone. If anyone can help us prepare it's him. I still think he can be useful in helping you develop your special talents." Hermione replied.

"You know he used to develop all the tactics for the Order. He could help me come up with a plan for you and Draco."

This was why he had come to rely on his two friends so much lately. They were a team. So much had changed since Ron and Hermione had finally admitted their feelings for each other. Ron was no longer the hot headed jealous freak he used to be. He was much more confident and level headed now. Hermione grounded him and made him realize his self worth. Hermione wasn't nearly as bossy as she used to be. Ron had grounded her and made her realize that sometimes you had to find the answers within yourself. At first he was a little concerned that they would shut him out when they got together but that wasn't the case at all. They went out of their way to make Harry feel comfortable about it all and rarely were seen showing each other any physical affection, apart from the occasional hand holding.

"That's a good idea. What do you say we get some sleep? I think the next week's going to be a long one." Harry said to his friends.

"Hermione, go ahead would you? I need to talk to Harry about something real quick." Hermione gave him a quick peck on the cheek and left the room. Once she was gone Ron started to speak again. "Harry I know Ginny was in here earlier." Harry started to say something but Ron cut him off. "Hear me out Harry. When you broke things off with her at the funeral it broke her heart. She tried to stay strong for your sake but she was torn up. I don't want that to happen again. As your best mate I stayed out of it last time but as her brother I need to say this. Don't do that again."

Harry looked over at the closest thing he had to a brother. "I won't Ron. Things are different now. Voldemort knows about us, he told me so. It doesn't make sense to stay apart anymore."

"You need to tell her Harry. It's not fair to her if you just disappear and do this without telling her."

"I will but I'm not going to tell her when or where. I can't risk her showing up mate." Harry said.

"Good enough. Goodnight Harry." Ron said as he got up and headed for the door.

Three days later Harry and Draco were dodging from headstone to headstone as curse after curse exploded around them sending rock fragments flying in all directions. Harry was shouting instructions to Draco when he got hit by a full body binding curse.

"What did you do wrong Harry?" Abe asked as the tombstones were slowly replaced by bushes and the smoke cleared. He had performed a spell that made his garden into a perfect replica of the graveyard they have visited a few days prior.

"I got hit with a bloody curse, isn't it obvious?" Harry said through clinched teeth as Ron and Abe walked towards him.

"Well there is that. The primary mistake that you made however was that you were paying too much attention to what Mr. Malfoy was doing and not enough to what you were doing. If you are going to be successful you are going to have to trust him to do his part. You cannot effectively manage his every move and pay enough attention to what you are doing at the same time."

"Alright. Let's try it again." Harry replied. They had been at this since yesterday morning, only stopping to eat and sleep. Harry was getting tired and was beginning to make stupid mistakes. He was going to need a break soon but not until he got it right.

Ron and Abe walked back towards the other end of the Garden as it transformed itself back into the graveyard from Harry's nightmares. Harry and Draco hid behind two nearby headstones and began the attack they had been practicing. The plan was for Draco to draw Snape away from Harry and Voldemort so Harry could do what he had to do. It was a basic divide and conquer offense. Draco needed only to keep Snape busy until Harry could return to assist him. The tricky part was getting them to separate. They intended to go about this by sending Draco over to whichever flank Snape was on and then moving off into the opposite direction in a tactical withdrawal. If it worked Snape would follow leaving Voldemort and Harry to fight it out. If it didn't it would leave Harry in a two against one position until Draco could return. It was a risky plan but it was also the one with the greatest chance of success.

Harry looked over at Draco and pointed to the East. Draco nodded and began running from headstone to headstone in that direction firing spells wildly over his shoulder the whole time. Harry stayed behind and began providing cover fire. In these simulations it would always work. Ron took off chasing after Draco leaving Harry to fight with Abe.

Harry peered around the side of the tombstone trying to get a glimpse of the aging wizard. For an old man he was surprisingly agile. Harry ran to the next headstone only to have it explode around him. He pointed his wand in the direction the spell came from and without making a sound a bright red light flew from the tip and collided with another headstone causing it to explode as well. He then rolled behind another headstone and waited patiently for another round of firing to begin. This was his strategy. Let the enemy know where you are but don't expose yourself. Every time the enemy fires you gain more insight into his possible position and what he may do next. Since very few people had ever dueled with Voldemort and lived, they didn't really know what to expect.

Harry peered around the stone and felt his hair singe. He quickly pulled his head back and counted to three. On three he ran to a large headstone a few meters away and heard Abe shout a curse from his right. Once he reached the next headstone he realized that he now had a general location of where his opponent was. It was risky but in order to get a more precise location he would have to move again. He spotted a large tomb about ten meters away and ran for it. Just as he was about to reach it he heard Abe shout the stunning spell and finally knew exactly where the old wizard was. When he reached the tomb he peered around the side and found another tomb closer to his opponent. He ran for it and heard Abe shout out another spell. In order for Abe to fire a spell at him he had to expose himself and in that brief instant Harry pointed his wand at him and wordlessly fired a stunner at him, hitting him square in the chest. Abe fell to the ground and Harry went off running in the direction he knew Draco had gone.

The next part of the plan involved him being a bit sneakier. He had to try to sneak up on Snape from behind and hit him in the back with a binding curse if Draco had not already taken him out. Unlike Voldemort, they wanted Snape alive. If everything went according to plan Snape would spend the rest of his life in Azkaban. Harry crept quickly from headstone to headstone until he heard Ron and Draco shouting curses at each other. They were making so much noise (Draco intentionally) that it was easy to find them. Harry stood up, took aim, and fired the binding curse at Ron hitting him squarely in the back.

The graveyard quickly transformed back into a garden and Harry could hear Abe clapping. "That was much better boys. I think that will be enough for today. Tomorrow we will start throwing things at you that don't necessarily fit with the plan. We should start concentrating on what if scenarios."

"What does that mean?" Draco asked, still panting heavily.

"What if scenarios are exactly how they sound Mr. Malfoy. What if this happens, what if that happens. If we go into this expecting the plan to work perfectly we will surely fail. Remember that most plans do not survive initial contact with the enemy."

Draco nodded and the four of them headed off towards the house. Ron and Draco had been spending a bit of time talking lately and they had begun to warm up to each other a little. They were walking together and talking about quidditch and Harry and Abe were lagging a little behind.

"Do you trust him Harry?" Abe asked as they were walking.

"Don't you?"

"It doesn't matter if I trust him. You are the one who will be fighting at his side. Now is not the time to be questioning if you should be taking him, that's decided. What you need to decide is if you trust him. If you do then you can concentrate on your task. If you don't he will continue to distract you. If you go into this without completely trusting him your chances of success will be diminished."

"I understand what you're saying Abe but how can I just start trusting him? Since the first time we met we've hated each other. It's not easy to just turn it off."

"Hate is a powerful emotion and it can be very difficult to let go. A very wise man once told me that the only emotion more powerful than hate was love."

"Your brother?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him Harry. He is now part of the long list of people who haunt my dreams. First it was my wife, then your mother and my own daughters, and now Albus. I look forward to walking with them again one day but the love I feel for them keeps me strong in this life. You must take the love you feel for those you have lost as well as those who are with you and use it to your advantage. Don't fight for revenge or for the safety of Britain, fight for those you love. Hate blinds us Harry, but love opens our eyes to the possibility of happiness."

Harry nodded his understanding and Abe picked up his pace to catch up with the other two. As Harry walked along he thought of all the people in his life he had loved. He loved his parents, or at least their memory. He loved the friendship he shared with Ron and Hermione. He had come to love Albus as one loves their Grandfather. He loved Molly and Arthur Weasley for the kindness they had shown him throughout the years. He loved Sirius and Remus like they were his uncles. Then there was Ginny. He was dreading the conversation they would soon have when he told her he was leaving to face Voldemort.

The rest of the week flew by in a haze of training and planning for the battle. It had been decided that the day before Harry and Draco were to meet Snape and Voldemort would be spent resting and getting some affairs in order. There were a few things that needed to be done. Abe had brought up to Harry one evening the subject of a will in case things didn't go as planned. This thought hung on Harry like a lead weight but he had to admit it made sense. Abe had the papers drawn up for him one afternoon in Hogsmeade. He decided to divide up his small fortune into three parts. One part would go to Molly and Arthur, another to Ron and Hermione, and the final third was for Ginny. He liked the idea of including Ron and Hermione as a couple. If he didn't make it through this alive they would need each other, this was his way of giving them one last push in each others directions. Grimauld and everything associated with it was to become the property of Remus. His few possessions would be given to Ginny to do with as she saw fit. He also sat down and wrote a letter for each of them. It wasn't easy but around lunchtime on that final day he had finally finished and felt as though he had everything in order.

The rest of the day went by like any other. They ate their meals, talked about this and that, and relaxed. After dinner Harry knew it was time to the thing he had been dreading the most. It was time to tell Ginny.

He walked over to where she was sitting in the parlor and asked her to go outside into the garden with him. Once they were outside he turned to face her and began to speak.

"I have something I need to tell you."

A look of concern appeared on her face and he could tell that she knew something was wrong. "What is it Harry?"

"There isn't any easy way to say this so I'm just going to say it. Voldemort has contacted me again. It's time for us to bring this to a close. He wants me to meet with him, he wants to end it."

Ginny remained in the same spot she had been standing in but turned away from him. "When?"

"Once we're finished talking I'll go inside and tell everyone goodnight. I will go to my room and take a portkey to another location. I'll wait there until it's time."

"I understand. You won't tell me when, will you?" She said still facing away from him.

"I'm sorry, I can't."

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box. He walked over to her and gently turned her to face him. She had tears running down her face but she wasn't hysterical.

"I want you to have this." He held out the box and she reached out gently and took it. When she opened it she found inside the crystal that had belonged to his mother attached to a delicate gold chain.

"I can't take this Harry. It's all you have left of her." She said as she closed the box and tried to give it back to him.

"No Ginny listen to me. That is more than just a gift, it's a promise. If I make it through this that's my promise to love you for the rest of my life. No matter what happens you will always be the most important thing in the world to me. That crystal was created out of one man's love for one woman and it's in the spirit of love that I give it to you. Please, don't refuse it." Harry said while trying to fight down the lump in his throat.

Ginny took the crystal out of the box and put it around her neck. She reached over and pulled Harry into a hug. They both stood there holding each other, taking comfort in the others embrace until finally Harry released her and took a very small step back. He looked down into her eyes and kissed her. It was a kiss filled with the promise of love and the hope that everything would allow that love to grow.

Ginny pulled away first and reached into her pocket. "I've been carrying this around with me for a long time, waiting for the right moment. It's nothing fancy Harry but it's a piece of me that I want you to carry with you." She took his hand and placed a small lock of her hair in it. She reached up and touched his cheek. "I love you Harry Potter. I always have and I always will." She turned around and ran back into the house.

Harry stood there for a few minutes collecting his thoughts. Once he had calmed down he went back into the house, said goodnight to everyone, and went to his room.

"Ready Potter?" Draco asked without so much as a hint of his usual scowl.

"Ready as I'll ever be Malfoy, let's go."

Harry and Draco walked over to the nightstand, grabbed a small figuring of a black dog, and disappeared.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Voldemort stood looking out of a window in the master bedroom of his father's house. He didn't come here often, it reminded him too much of a time that he had needed others in order to exist. He had always prided himself on what he had accomplished by himself. He had done things no other wizard had ever even imagined, and he did it alone. Sure there were his Death Eaters, but they were there as a means to an end. He couldn't be everywhere at once could he? One could not lead without followers.

"My lord you summoned me?" The cold voice of one of his most trusted followers, Severus Snape asked from behind him.

Snape was one of the few people in the world that could sneak up on him. The man had an uncanny ability to mask his thoughts that had served him well over the years. Voldemort was continually impressed by his ability to fool that mudblood loving fool Dumbledore.

"Ah Severus, it is good to see you. I was just reflecting on how things have turned out for us in this quest we have taken." Voldemort turned around to face the man that had been more than a follower, but a pupil, for so many years. "I remember when you first came into my service. I did not think I would be able to find any use for you but you soon proved yourself worthy of our cause. In a way you remind me a great deal of myself. We both have little use for emotional attachment and we both have a searing hate that fuels out lives. Our hate comes from the way that we have been treated by muggles and mudbloods over the years. We are both the product of pure blood that was tainted by bad choices and we both seem to have an undying desire to see Harry Potter find his way into an early grave."

"I am honored My Lord that you would find similarities between us." Snape answered his master while a small smile found its way to his face.

"To tell you the truth Severus I am honored to find them. You have proven to be a valuable member of my team and the time has come for you to be rewarded. Tomorrow night you will have the honor of accompanying me to a great battle. Harry Potter will be bringing Draco to us right down there in the graveyard."

"Forgive me Master but that seems unlikely. Potters greatest weakness is his loyalty to those who have not earned it. I doubt he would ever allow us to have Draco without a fight." Snape prepared himself for the response that so often came with disagreeing with his master, but instead he was greeted with a laugh.

"Your intellect serves you well my friend. His intent is not to hand over the boy but to fight at his side. He has requested that you accompany me into this battle. Why do you think he asked for you instead of one of your less capable colleagues Severus?"

"We share a certain hatred for each other Master. As you know he was there the night that I killed Dumbledore and tried to take his revenge on me then. If it were not for your order to leave the boy unharmed I would have killed him then. He possesses his father's insufferable arrogance and he never failed to be disrespectful to me when I was his professor. I would consider it a great honor to accompany you in this task. I am curious though as to why we are not bringing greater numbers. Surely the Order will accompany Potter. They have been fighting his battles for him for a long time."

"Potter has given me his word that he will bring only Malfoy. His sense of honor is too great for him to go against his word. I did however consider breaking mine but I believe that would send the wrong message. How can I hope to inspire fear in thousands if I cannot defeat a mere boy without my army to back me up?"

Snape regarded his master for several seconds while running the possibilities through his mind. "A wise decision My Lord. The fall of Harry Potter will truly inspire fear throughout the population."

Voldemort smiled and nodded. "I am glad you agree Severus. Once we have completed this task I feel that a change in the nature of your service will be required. I must admit that our operation has become very complex. Once Potter is out of the way I will be required to shift my attention towards bigger things. I will need assistance in the day to day running of our organization. You will of course be my first choice. I have never granted this type of responsibility to anyone before but I believe you have proven yourself worthy."

"Thank you My Lord. I am once again honored by your words."

"You may go now Severus. Prepare yourself for our battle. Tomorrow will mark the dawn of a new era in our cause."

Snape turned and left the room leaving Voldemort alone with his thoughts. There were so many things running through his mind. When this was over and he was finally rid of Potter everything would change. His greatest rival Albus Dumbledore was no longer there to stand in the way and with Potter gone no one would dare stand up to him. He would unleash his full fury on the wizarding world. He would start with the mudbloods. Once he had taken care of them he would give the half bloods a choice, join him or die. He wasn't enough of a hypocrite to simply kill them. He may have disowned his muggle father but his blood did still run through his veins and he was the most powerful wizard alive. He would definitely be living in a different world within the next few weeks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry and Draco arrived at Abe's house a second after they left Grimauld. Harry hated most forms of magical travel and portkey was no exception. He got up off the floor and started wiping the dirt from his pants.

"I see the two of you have arrived safely. Why don't we go into the den and talk last minute strategy?" Abe said to the two young men who appeared in his home.

Together they made their way into the den where a fire had already been lit in the fireplace. There were three winged back chairs facing the fire and a table with tea and biscuits already laid out. They each took a chair on opposite sides of Abe and began to talk.

"There really isn't much left to discuss is there?" Abe asked as he poured them each a cup and sat down himself. "I think at this point the biggest thing to remember is to think on your feet. As I have told you both before you should never expect a plan to survive initial contact. A plan is a wonderful thing but unless you are prepared for it to go drastically wrong you can harbor no hope of success."

Harry and Draco both nodded without saying a word. They had spent hours upon hours practicing Abe's what if scenarios and they had helped them develop their abilities to work as a team. If they were ever going to be ready, it was now.

"Remember not to underestimate these two boys. While Ron and I are both accomplished wizards I fear that we do not possess the skills that Voldemort and Snape have. Voldemort will bring his full arsenal of spells out immediately and Snape is one of the most cunning wizards I have ever known. You will have to hit hard and fast. Divide them and take them down one at a time."

Abe looked at the two young men who were sitting with him and decided it was time to put the last two pieces of the puzzle together. "I do not wish to sound like a pessimist but if things should go badly and one of you is killed, the other must leave immediately. Try to recover your partner but if you cannot get to him in time….well it's just a body at this point anyway isn't it? This plan cannot succeed if the odds suddenly become two to one."

He got up and walked to the mantle. He opened a beautifully carved mahogany box and took out two golden rings. Walking over to the two boys he gave each one of them and sat back down.

"These are portkeys. They have been set up so that tomorrow morning they become active. They will transport you to Grimauld place where you will be safe. Remember; if this mission fails do not hesitate to leave that cemetery. Voldemort will escalate this war regardless if you leave or not so do not think that staying put and dying would be the heroic thing to do. There is an old saying, he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. It is not cowardly when faced with overwhelming odds to use discretion and leave."

The two boys each put their rings in their pockets.

"Draco, would you please give us a minute? There are a few things I need to say to Albus." Harry asked.

"Alright Potter, I'm tired anyways. I will be upstairs asleep if anyone needs me."

Draco got up and left the room. Harry turned to his new mentor and just looked at him for a few minutes. Every time that he saw Abe he was painfully reminded of the man who had been taken away from him. He missed Albus a great deal.

"Abe I mostly just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me. I know at first you didn't want to help but I'm glad you did. If we get through this alive it will be in part because of what you've done. You're a good man and a good friend."

"You're welcome Harry. I wish I could have done more but time would not allow it. I want to thank you as well Harry."

"What do you have to thank me for? You've done so much for us and we've done nothing for you in return."

"You brought me back into the land of the living Harry. I took your mother's death badly. After she died and you were taken to your aunt's house to live I retreated into that bar and stayed there until you found me. If it weren't for you I would still be there, buying the time until my own death. You and your friends have given me something to live for. You've given me hope again. Hope is the greatest gift a person can give."

"You're welcome. I need you to promise me something. If this does go badly, don't go back into hiding. The order will need your help more than ever and you are too valuable an asset to simply disappear. I'm concerned about what will happen to my friends if I die. Promise me you'll look after them."

"I promise Harry. I have gotten too involved in this to turn my back on them now. My days of hiding are over. I have even considered asking Minerva for a job when this is all over. I believe the Defense Against the Dark Arts job is vacant." Abe said to Harry with a smile. For the first time since they had begun working together Harry saw a hint of sparkle in the old man's eyes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remus was sitting in the parlor at Grimauld Place waiting for Professor McGonagall to arrive. He had gone up to Harry's room earlier to talk about a few things only to discover that both Harry and Draco had left. This could only mean one thing; the time was near for their fight with Voldemort.

"What exactly was so important that you felt the need to summon me here in the middle of the night Remus?" Came the voice of the aging Professor from the doorway. She came into the room and sat down in a chair across from him and waited for his reply.

"Harry and Draco are both gone." He relied with a serious expression on his face.

"Already? I didn't think they would be given a time and place until tomorrow."

"That's what he told me. He must have lied to prevent us from interfering."

"Oh no Remus this is not a good thing. There were so many things that he needed to know before he did this. Did you have the opportunity to discuss our plan with him?"

"I'm afraid not Minerva. I was waiting until after he and Voldemort had agreed on a time and place. I didn't want the information to be fresh in his mind while that monster was poking around in there. It would have ruined everything."

"You're right about that Remus but now it may be too late. He's gone and he doesn't know. This could turn out badly. Do you still have a way to contact our friend Remus?"

"Yes. I'll try but it may be too late. I'm sure he's very busy with the preparations."

"For his sake and for the sake of Potter and Draco let's hope you're wrong Remus. He must be contacted."

Author's Note: I know the chapter was short but don't worry; the next chapter is the fight.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Harry lay in bed staring at the ceiling. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get his nerves to calm down enough to actually allow him some rest. The worst part about not being able to sleep is that it gave you time to think. Time to think about all the possibilities you may face in the future, if you have one. No matter how hard he tried to stay positive there was a very real chance that this time tomorrow he would be dead. If that happened the unthinkable would follow and it would all be his fault. He could not allow that to happen.

Harry could see through his window that the sun was coming up over the horizon. There wasn't really any point in trying to sleep now. He had to be up in a few hours anyway and everyone knows that two hours of sleep is worse than none at all. At least with no sleep you had the adrenaline to keep you company. Lack of adrenaline probably wouldn't be an issue for him today though.

He got up and walked to the bathroom. He took a shower and dressed. He was going through the motions. Acting like it was just any other day instead of the most important day of his life. The only difference for Harry was that it was all happening in slow motion. It seemed like the water was falling from the shower head slower than usual. If he didn't know better he would swear that the dust particles in the air were sitting still.

He went downstairs into the kitchen and found Abe and Draco sitting at the table. The kitchen was a buzz with activity however as eggs flew through the air and cooked themselves and sausages were turning themselves in a pan on the stove.

"Good morning Harry. Would you like a cup of tea?" Abe asked when he noticed the messy haired young man standing in front of him.

"No I don't think so Abe. I think I'll just have some toast." Harry thought back to another time when he had been nervous. It was right before his first quidditch match. He had only eaten toast that morning as well.

Abe got up and went over to the toaster. "Naturally you're nervous Harry, but you need to try to eat something. It would be most unfortunate if you were to become weak during a critical moment. Look at Draco. You would hardly even know he's nervous. He's been eating like a horse all morning." Draco looked up at Harry and smiled through his eggs. How could he remain so calm? He knew better than most the horrors that Voldemort could inflict. Any sane person would be scared out of their wits right now.

"I'll try Abe." Harry said as he took the toast and started nibbling at it.

"You don't have much time Harry. You're supposed to be meeting him in about an hour. Now remember, don't try to apparate out if you're overwhelmed. He is bound to have something set up so he can track you if you apparate. Use the portkey I have provided you. Do you still have it?"

"It's still in my pocket."

"Good. All you have to do to activate it Harry is put it on. Once it's on you and anyone you are touching will go to Grimauld."

"I think I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air. I need to focus and there is just too much going on in here." Harry got up and headed for the door. He went outside to the garden and sat at a bench overlooking a small pond.

Harry felt Draco was coming towards him. He turned around and saw him staring at the same pond.

"It's time to go Potter." He said as he resumed walking in Harry's direction.

"Alright then, I suppose we should be going."

"Potter, no matter what happens in that Graveyard I want you to know I appreciate what you've done for me. Perhaps if I had gotten to know you sooner we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now." Draco wasn't looking at Harry when he said this. He couldn't bring himself to look at the person he had tormented for so many years.

"I'm to blame as well Draco. I never gave you a chance. Now I am. This is your chance to make up for everything you've done. When this is over, I'm going to make sure you have a clean slate. I promise I will do everything in my power to clear your name."

Draco still wouldn't look at Harry. He stood there with a pained look on his face. "The past is the past Potter. What happens today is all that matters." He finally faced Harry and when he did the pained look on his face was replaced with a stony one. He set his jaw and nodded that he was ready to go. They both turned on the spots they were standing and with a loud crack disappeared.

When they reappeared they were exactly where they had hoped to be. They were standing behind a large tomb that had once been white. Now it was covered in dirt and soot making it appear a dull grey. Each of them went to an opposite corner and peered around to see what they could find out about their situation. Harry immediately saw Voldemort and Snape standing on the opposite end of the cemetery.

"Harry you came. I know you're here Harry. I heard the crack of your apparition."

"I'm here Tom. It looks like you've kept your word and not brought any of your minions. How does it feel to tell the truth Tom?" Harry shouted at his enemy.

"Now Harry, there is no point in this verbal exchange. Come out where I can see you and we will do this properly."

Harry signaled to Draco to begin the attack. Draco nodded and headed off to the east firing spells blindly over his shoulder. As Draco began his diversion Harry ran to the west doing the same. He dove behind a large headstone and peered around to see that the plan was actually working. Snape went after Draco just as they had planned.

Harry ran to the next headstone and fired off a stunning spell in the direction Voldemort had last been but when he arrived at his destination he noticed that the spells were not being returned. He peered around and noticed that Voldemort was no longer where he had been. Just as these thoughts were processing themselves in his brain he heard Draco let out a loud scream.

Without thinking Harry stood and ran in the direction he thought Draco would be in. Abe told him to think on his feet and that is exactly what he intended to do. As he ran his mind prepared himself for what he might find but he was in no way prepared for the sight that greeted him as he turned the corner from around a large tomb. He stopped dead in his tracks and observed Voldemort standing over Draco who was lying on the ground looking up with fear in his eyes.

He knew he had to do something quick if Draco was going to get out of this alive. He prepared himself and pointed his wand at Voldemort. "Sectumsepmra!" A bolt of light shot from his wand and collided with the serpent like shape of his nemesis. Voldemort fell to the ground but quickly recovered. Harry knew this was his opportunity. He had the element of surprise working for him and it would not be wise to allow his enemy time to recover. He began to shout another spell when he was hit hard in the chest with a stunner knocking him off his feet.

He quickly rolled behind a nearby headstone to try to regain his bearing.

"Good shot Harry. I must admit I didn't realize you had come this way so soon." He heard Voldemort say with a laugh.

"As I'm sure you've realized by now the tables have turned slightly. You're diversion did not work. Why don't you come out from your little hiding place and face me like a man?"

Harry's mind was going a mile a minute. Draco was either dead or knocked out. Voldemort had figured out their plan and he had no idea where Snape was. He knew that he had to get a grip and figure out a way to turn this to his advantage. He looked at his surroundings and realized they were in the exact spot that Voldemort had brought him for his resurrection. He stood and ran to the grave of Tom Riddle Senior. He could feel the headstones around him explode as Voldemort fired off curse after curse. When he arrived at the grave he dove behind it. He looked out from the corner and saw Voldemort. He had an idea.

"Do you like this one Tom? If I remember correctly we've been here before. I'm sure you remember how that little encounter turned out."

"Oh Harry, did I forget to mention to you that I have a new wand? Olivander has been hard at work on it. The events of our last encounter here will not repeat themselves."

Harry fired a stunner in the general direction of his enemy and ran to the next headstone. As he arrived at his targeted location he noticed out of the corner of his eye that someone was standing next to Voldemort. He knew that this had gotten out of hand. The loss of Draco was bad enough but now he had to assume that Snape had returned. He had to get out of here now. He didn't stand a chance against them both. Just as he was pulling the ring out of his pocket a hand reached out and grabbed his arm. Harry looked up in a panic to see Draco lying on the ground next to him.

"That's not me out there Potter, its Snape. I'll explain later." Draco said to him quickly.

"Prove it, what did we talk about before we came here?" Harry asked quickly.

"How you would clear my name if we got out of this."

"Good enough. Do they think you're out of the fight?"

Tombstones all around them were being hit with green light. Splinters of stone were flying everywhere and hitting the two young wizards. Draco nodded.

"Snape thinks I'm out. He thinks he hit me with a binding spell."

"There's our advantage. Snape has to be the target now. We have to get Voldemort but we can't try to face them both at once. Once he's down we can go after Voldemort but we have to kill Snape first. I'm going to start firing spells off and you run around the corner to that tomb there." Harry pointed at an old tomb that looked just as battered and worn as the rest. "I'll wait for twenty seconds. I need you to start shooting off as many spells as you can but don't expose yourself too much. Hopefully they will think you're me and stop looking over here. That should give me the diversion I need."

Draco nodded and took off in the other direction. Harry began firing spells at his two enemies. He managed to hit Snape with a stunner just as Draco was getting into position but it was only enough to make him stumble. Harry stopped firing and waited for the longest twenty seconds of his life.

Draco started firing spells at them and without looking Harry stood up and pointed his wand in the direction he knew Voldemort had stood a moment ago. He concentrated every ounce of hate he had for the man into his thoughts and raised his wand. "Avada Cadavra!" He shouted with all his might and knew immediately that the spell had worked. A brilliant green light shot out of the end of his wand and collided with his former professor. The man he had spent so much of his life hating fell to the ground.

Harry dove for the next headstone only to have it explode around him when he reached it, embedding pieces of stone into his face. Draco started firing off spells from his end of the cemetery that were easily deflected by the powerful Dark Lord they were aimed at. They were enough to turn the tide though. Harry rolled onto his side and began firing off spells as well. This time it was Voldemort's turn to dive behind a tomb.

Harry resumed firing spells blindly while he ran over to where Draco was. They would have to coordinate this perfectly if it was going to work. When he arrived at Draco's location he took the ring out of his pocket and handed it to Draco.

"Take this. If this doesn't work I want you to get out of here and tell the others what happened here."

Draco nodded and took the ring. "What do we do now Potter?" He asked.

"We charge. He's hiding behind that tomb and we can't give him time to get his thoughts straight. I know everyone says I have to do this but I want you to throw everything you have at him. Charge through that tomb and I'll see you on the other side."

"Draco stuck out his hand to his new friend. "Good luck Potter. See you on the other side." Harry took his hand and they both turned to face the tomb.

Looking back on it years later Draco would realize that it was this simple act of friendship that had cost them the fight. While they were standing there shaking hands Voldemort turned from around the tomb and raised his wand.

"Avada Cadavra!"

A burst of brilliant green light shout of his wand and hit Harry Potter square in the chest. His face went blank and his mouth let out a pained breath. For a split second he looked at Draco in disbelief before he fell to the ground.

Draco's mind started to go a million miles a second and he could feel himself starting to panic. Without even thinking about it he grabbed Harry by the collar and slipped the ring on his finger. As he began to feel the familiar pull of the portkey activating he could hear Voldemort's evil laugh and he knew, deep down inside, that all was now lost.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to post this installment. I have been very busy. I will try to do better.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Lupin and Tonks were in the library at Grimauld Place staring at the fire and sharing a pot of tea. They had been talking about things they would like to do once the war was over. Lupin was quite surprised to find out that they shared many of the same goals. She told him that she wanted to teach at the Auror Academy. The war had been very brutal and the whole department would have to practically start over. He told her that he intended to try teaching at Hogwarts again. It was the only time since James had died that he'd been truly happy. He had spent a great deal of time thinking about the strange young woman he was talking with. The subject of her feelings for him had not come up once since the night Albus had died. They were both so busy with their roles in the order that a social life was unimaginable. He had to admit he was impressed with the way she was handling herself in her new role as co-leader of the group. There were many things about this person he didn't know but had finally made up his mind that when all this was over he would find out. He deserved a little happiness after all the suffering he'd endured. He finally made up his mind and now was as good a time as any to discuss the matter.

"Tonks there is something I would like to talk to you about."

"What is it Remus?"

"I've been giving a great deal of thought to what you said the night Albus died. When this is all over…" Lupin noticed movement in the corner of his eye at the door to the room. He looked over to see who it was disturbing them and saw something that turned his blood to ice. It was Draco Malfoy. His clothes were torn and he had blood running down his face from a large number of cuts that still had pieces of stone sticking into them. He was even paler than usual and the look in his eyes was easily recognizable by someone who had been in combat before, it was often referred to as the thousand yard stare and was an early warning sign of shock.

Remus jumped up from his chair and hurried over to Malfoy grabbing him gently by the arms. "Draco what happened? Where's Harry?"

Draco jumped as if he didn't realize anyone was there and violently jerked out of Remus' grasp. He looked around the room and for a moment couldn't remember where he was.

"Draco where's Harry?" Remus shouted at the young man standing before him. Draco shook his head a little and pointed into the next room.

Remus darted through the door and saw Harry lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. This couldn't be happening. Harry couldn't be dead. He ran over to the fallen form of the son he never had and collected him up in his arms. He gently placed him on a nearby sofa as Tonks came into the room.

"Oh Merlin Remus, is he dead?" Tonks asked with her hands pressed against her face. Remus reached out and felt for a pulse on the boy's neck. His heart sank as he waited for what seamed like an eternity. As he was about to give in to his grief he felt a very faint pressure against his finger indicating that Harry's heart had just pumped a small amount of blood through his veins.

"He's not dead. Quickly get Poppy and Minerva." Tonks nodded and headed off to the fireplace to call for help. Draco slowly came back into the room and absently watched as Remus started to remove pieces of stone from Harry's face and scalp. As he stood there it all came back to him in a flood of terrible memories. He buckled at the waist and violently lost his breakfast.

"They're on their way Remus." Tonks shouted as she ran back into the room. She noticed Draco standing in the corner shivering and quickly went to his side.

"Draco what happened?"

Draco just looked up at her as if he didn't understand what she was saying. He started looking at the floor again. Tonks reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, hard.

"For Merlin's sake Draco if Poppy is going to have any chance of helping him we need to know what spell did this."

Draco looked up at her and said in the tiniest of voices "It was the killing curse Nymph; Voldemort hit him with the killing curse."

She let go of him and stared for a few seconds as her mind processed the information. Just as she was about to ask him to repeat himself Poppy and Minerva charged into the room.

"Get out of my way Remus. I need to look at him right away." Poppy pushed Remus aside and started to examine Harry. "Quickly, what did this to him?" She asked as she ran her wand up and down his body.

"Draco says Voldemort hit him with the killing curse." Tonks said with disbelief in her voice.

Poppy didn't bat an eye but quickly moved Harry's hair out of the way to examine his scar. The scar was bright red and a small amount of blood was oozing from the old wound.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The activity in the old mansion was finally beginning to die down. After Poppy had cleaned up Harry's wounds she quickly announced that there was nothing more she could do for him. Since he was the only person to ever survive the curse, twice now, there was no known treatment. When he was an infant they simply watched him to make sure he didn't slip off in his sleep. She suggested they do the same this time as well.

Draco was another story. He was suffering from a classic case of post traumatic stress. It was very common for a young man to slip into a mild state of shock after an experience such as the one he had just gone through. Poppy cleaned his wounds and put him to bed where he promptly fell asleep. Remus demanded that he be allowed to question him but Poppy threatened to sedate him if he didn't calm down and allow Draco to rest. He could get his answers in the morning.

Ron and Hermione had been upstairs when Harry and Draco returned. Once the Order members started arriving they heard the commotion and came downstairs to investigate. Ron went into the parlor and saw everyone huddled around the lifeless form of his best friend and went mental. He demanded to know what had happened and charged at Draco. Luckily Tonks had been expecting such a reaction and was able to stop him before he was able to begin beating on the virtually mindless teenager.

Ginny and her mother had been outside tending to the garden. When they heard the commotion inside they went in to find out what was going on. Regardless of how hard they tried they had been unable to remove her from Harry's side since.

Hermione handled it better than anyone expected. Her calm logical brain immediately told her that Harry was under the best supervision he could hope for and that only time could provide her with the answers she so desperately wanted. It was her idea not to take him to the wizarding hospital. She reasoned that Poppy could provide excellent care right there at the house and in the long run it may provide them with an advantage.

"So what is this advantage you are speaking of Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked her former pupil. A full meeting of the orders leaders had been called to discuss the events. McGonagall, Moody, Tonks, Remus, Hermione, and Ron all sat at the kitchen table.

"Well Professor we don't really know yet what happened but if Draco was correct Voldemort must think Harry's dead. This could provide us an advantage."

Ron's tactical brain immediately went to work. "Brilliant Hermione, if Voldemort thinks Harry's dead it would definitely be advantageous. When Harry recovers he won't know what hit him."

Hermione smiled and reached for the hand of the young man she had come to love. He was such a source of strength for her at times like this.

"Don't you mean if he recovers?" Moody said as both a question and a fact.

"No, he meant when he recovers!" Lupin shouted. "Harry is the strongest person I've ever met. He's dealt with more adversity in his short life than anyone at this table combined and he has always pulled through. The next person who says "if" he pulls through will have to deal with a very angry werewolf." Lupin slammed his fist down on the table causing everyone but Moody to jump. Moody, for his part, only grunted his acknowledgment.

The rest of the day was tense. People in the house paced from room to room and when night came, sleep did not. Finally the sun rose on a new day and Poppy announced to Remus that it would be alright if he woke Draco now to get the answers he so desperately desired. Remus went into Draco's room to wake him only to find him sitting in a chair in the corner staring out the window.

"How are you feeling Draco?" He asked gently.

"I'm alive, is Harry?"

"Yes Harry's alive. He's been in his room asleep since we cleaned him up. We don't know when he'll wake up but his heart is beating stronger now and his breathing is almost normal."

Draco nodded and let out a long held breath. You could see the tension leave the young man's body.

"Draco we need to know what happened. Can you tell me?" Remus asked. He had planned on demanding answers but as soon as he saw him sitting in the chair with that blank expression he knew Draco was still suffering the effects of the previous day. If Draco needed more time, he would get it.

"It's all kind of a blur but I'll do my best."

"Alright Draco, begin whenever you're ready."

Draco took a deep breath and began. "We left Abe's house and apparated to the cemetery where we were supposed to meet him. The one his father's buried in. We planned to split Snape and Voldemort up. I was going to run one direction while Harry went the other. My job was to keep Snape busy while Harry finished off Voldemort. Once he was finished he would come help me capture Snape. Harry wanted him alive." Draco stopped to give Remus the opportunity to ask any questions. When none came he continued. "When we got there I went one way and he the other just like we planned. Snape followed me, just like we planned. That was the last thing that went according to plan. Snape fired a binding curse at me and it just barely grazed my shoulder. It wasn't enough for the desired effect but when I fell I hit my head on a tombstone. Once I was down he took a piece of my hair and added it to some pollyjuice potion. Voldemort joined him as Snape was turning into me. Snape lay down on the ground and together they waited for Harry. When Harry got there he saw Voldemort pointing a wand at who he thought was me. He fired off a few spells and realized that he didn't have a chance alone against both of them. I snuck over to him and together we planned a distraction. Since they didn't know I was back into the fight I went one way and started firing spells. They thought I was Harry and stopped watching the position I had just left. Harry was able to take out Snape and almost Voldemort but he managed to jump behind a tomb. As we were about to charge the tomb Voldemort fired off the killing curse and hit Harry. I apparated us out after that."

"When you say that Harry took Snape out, what exactly are you saying Draco?" Lupin asked with concern in his voice.

"He killed him. He stood up from behind the tomb, fired the curse, and Snape died." Draco answered with no emotion in his voice. He had told the whole tale as though he were reading it from a book, like it happened to someone else.

"I see. Are you sure Draco?"

"I saw it with my own two eyes."

Lupin sighed and stood up. So Harry had done it. He had killed Dumbledore's murderer.

"Was there anyone else there?"

"Not that I saw. As far as I know it was just the four of us."

"Thank you for getting him out of there. I didn't trust you Draco, but now I'm in your debt. If you ever need me for anything all you have to do is ask. Now if you feel up to it we should get some breakfast and talk to the others."

Draco got up and walked to the door before he stopped. "You don't owe me anything Lupin. I didn't take him out of there for you. I did it for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't know what else to do. I thought Harry was dead and I was scared. I grabbed him and activated the portkey because I didn't want to die. I just watched one of the most courageous displays I have ever even heard of and I ran like a frightened child." Draco turned to look at his former Professor and for the first time since their return from the battle he showed emotion. He had a tear running down his cheek and wore a pained expression. "Everyone was right about me. I'm a coward."

"Listen to me Draco. You didn't just watch that battle you fought in it, and just because you were smart enough to know when to retreat doesn't make you a coward. It means you have common sense. A coward would have never gone there in the first place. I don't think you're a coward, and neither does anyone else."

"Are you sure?" Draco asked with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

"I'm sure. Now let's go get something to eat, I'm starving."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ginny was lying on the bed next to Harry holding his hand. She had only left his side for food and bathroom brakes since they brought him back from the cemetery and she had no intention of changing that now.

They had been through so much over the last year and now there was a good chance she may lose him. There were so many things that were left unsaid, so many things left undone. She knew she could never love anyone the way she loved him. She cuddled up to him and wrapped herself around his torso.

"Harry I don't know if you can hear me or not but if you can I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere. I will be right here when you wake up so you just take your time and get better."

She put her head on his chest and began to cry again. Just as she was starting to drift off to sleep the door flew open and Ron came quickly into the room.

"Ginny there's been an attack. Voldemort has taken control of Hogwarts."

Author's Note: I want to thank everyone who had read, and especially those who have reviewed, for giving me a reason to continue. This is about to really take off. I never thought I would enjoy fan fiction so much but it has really helped me to pass the time during this deployment in Afghanistan. Once again, thank you.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It had been three weeks since Hogwarts was taken and Harry still hadn't woken up. He just slept what seemed to be a very peaceful sleep. His breathing and heart rate had stabilized but no matter what Poppy tried she couldn't get him to wake up. Finally about a week ago she announced that there was nothing she could do. If he was going to come out of this it would be on his terms.

Voldemort hadn't wasted any time since taking Hogwarts. He had managed to take Hogsmeade and housed most of his Death Eaters there. During the battle a large number of the inhabitants had been killed, including Madame Rosemerta. He had killed all the muggle born and about three quarters of the half bloods. Those that survived swore allegiance and took the mark. The Orders best guess was that Hogsmeade now housed an army of about five hundred. According to Tonks there were only about two hundred Aurors left. The Order had grown in size to about two hundred as well but even if they were to join forces that would still leave them outnumbered.

The Ministry had contacted their counterparts in France but they were at the present time refusing to assist. The official stance was neutrality in what they called a Civil War but everyone knew they didn't want to stand next to anyone until it was obvious who would win.

With the odds of a successful attack on Hogsmeade and subsequently Hogwarts being virtually impossible the Order had taken to random raids. Small squads consisting of nine members would wait for the opportune moment and strike at unsuspecting Death Eaters. So far the tactic was proving fairly effective but it wouldn't last long. As the Death Eaters began to attempt to expand their influence they were going out with more and more people in their groups. It was becoming very rare to less than twenty or thirty Death Eaters together at a time.

The Order had taken very few losses due to their conservative attack strategy. There had been a lot of injuries but only one fatality. William Butler, Remus' protégé, had fallen during one of the first of the Orders raids. He took out three Death Eaters and after they thought the others had ran went out to see if he could find anything of intelligence value on the bodies. As soon as he reached the first body he was hit with the killing curse by a Death Eater hiding in the trees next to the road. As soon as the Death Eater fired the killing curse he disapparated away. Remus took it hard, Peter Pettigrew had now killed his oldest and his newest friend.

Ron and Hermione had been quick to volunteer to help. Although they were not members of the Order they had participated in four raids each and were quickly earning the respect and admiration of the people they served with. Ron had personally taken out five Death Eaters during one of the raids and was responsible for the deaths of several more during others. Hermione had not actually gone on any of the patrols but she was very active in the planning of several. Her biggest strength was intelligence analysis. After the individual battles the Order always took everything they could off the dead. Much of this proved very valuable in determining where they would be going next. She had managed to put together a pretty good determination of what the next targets would be as well as the strength of Voldemort's army.

Ginny hadn't left Harry's side. She just couldn't bring herself to leave. If he woke up she wanted to be there. Consequently she was the first thing Harry saw when he woke up.

"Hi," Harry said as he looked over at Ginny who was lying beside him. For her part all she could do is make her eyes twice their normal size and start to cry.

"I knew you'd wake up, I just knew it."

"How long have I been here?" He asked her while wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

"It's been three weeks since Draco brought you here Harry."

"Three weeks?"

"I'm going to go tell the others you've woke up. I'll be right back." She got up and kissed him on the cheek before leaving the room.

Harry got up and made his way to the bathroom. He had three days worth of bodily cleansing to take care of and it hurt. After he finished he went back into the bedroom to find that Hermione was already there. She ran up to him and engulfed him in a rather tight bear hug.

"I just knew you'd be alright," She said as she let go of him. Ginny came back into the room and together they tried to get Harry caught up on the events of the last three weeks. Once they had finished they made their way downstairs but there was nobody else in the house. They explained to him that the Order had gone out on a raid and would most likely be gone all night.

"Good, we need a little time to talk about a few things. You've been right this whole time Hermione. I can't do this alone. We need to gather as many people as we can before we try again. Voldemort thinking I'm dead will be an advantage but it's not enough. I want you to contact as many members of the DA as you can. We're going to need some help."

hr 

That evening when everyone returned from what turned out to be an unproductive ambush they were all elated to see Harry had recovered. Molly of course crushed him with a hug and Remus actually shed a tear.

Harry got Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco, and Remus and then asked the leadership committee from the Order to meet with him in the Library. Once everyone was there he started to tell them of his plans.

"Alright I admit it was a bad idea. I never should have gone in there without the help of everyone involved and I'm sorry. It won't happen again. That being said there is one good thing that came out of this, he thinks I'm dead. We have to use this to our advantage. Remus, how strong is he?"

"Well the last time we sent in a recon team they estimated about 500 in Hogsmeade and around 75 in the castle itself."

"This is what I would like to propose. I think the most important thing is taking the castle back. Once we have it we can easily defend it against the Death Eaters if we transfer your headquarters there. You will need to have all of your forces present though for the initial push. I am going to call in a few old friends and all together I should be able to contribute about 45 witches and wizards. Your two hundred or so combined with our forty five should be enough to take the castle back if we catch him by surprise. I would like for Ron and Draco to team up with Abe and Remus and develop a plan to make this all work."

"Now wait one minute Harry. There is nobody in the room who would like to liberate that castle more than me but it's too much of a risk. Besides who are you to give us orders?" McGonagall said through pursed lips.

"Fine, you've made your point clear Professor. The Order doesn't want to take risks because apparently the strategy of doing nothing is working out really well for you. You have all made so much progress. Tell me Moody, what was the last time any of you did anything that mattered. All you three ever do is talk. I for one am sick of it. If you won't help I'll find people who will. The Minister's dying to use me as his cover boy maybe I'll get the Aurors to help, and then I will be telling you what to do Tonks."

"Leave me out of this Harry. I'm with you on this one. What can it hurt to develop a plan and explore the options? Once we've got more information if we still think it's too risky we back out. My votes with Harry so far," Tonks said.

"Well then it looks like it's a go for the planning stage," Moody added. "The boy's right, all we ever do is talk. I'm sick of these petty little ambush's we've been doing. It's time to take the fight to them. Back in the old days Abe always used to say that the best defense is a good offense. The longer we leave that castle under his control the more time he has to recruit followers."

"Fine, develope your plan if you must. Use whatever resources you need Remus," McGonagall said as she got up and left the room. She wasn't happy but she would abide by the wishes of the council.

"While they're developing the plan Hermione and I will be getting together our group. You're welcome to join me," Harry said to Tonks and Moody.

"I think I'll make myself useful by helping with the plan. I've got more experience with that than I do with recruiting," Moody said.

"Sorry Harry I just don't have the time. I have to go from here to work. I'm still an Auror you know."

Everyone shook hands and everyone but Harry and Hermione had left. "So how do you want to go about this?" Hermione asked. "I was thinking we should split up, we can do this quicker that way."

"Good idea. You start with Luna and I'll go find Neville. Once we have them we meet back here and go from there."

hr 

Harry had to be careful. There were two problems with the situation that he was in. The first was the fact that everyone thought he was dead. He couldn't just walk up to Neville's front door in broad daylight. He lived in an area that was heavily comprised of witches and wizards, someone would recognize him. His second problem was what to wear to hide him without looking like a Death Eater. Mrs. Longbottom was known for her hatred of the Death Eaters and would likely curse him as soon as she spotted what she thought may be one. He decided that he would have to take the risk and got out his trusted invisibility cloak. If he could just get inside he could take it off, he trusted the Longbottoms not to reveal to the world that he was alive.

Harry approached the front door of the old house. He had never been here before and found himself surprised by its size. The house was four stories tall and beautiful. It was built in the Victorian style and well maintained throughout the years. He walked onto the front porch and knocked. He waited a few minutes and just as he was reaching up to knock again the door opened, revealing Neville's Grandmother. He had to act quickly if his plan would work. He rushed past her and, removing his cloak, put his wand to her temple.

"Please close the door Mrs. Longbottom," Harry said in an overly polite voice.

Mrs. Longbottom had never in her life been accused of being a coward so she turned to face her attacker. When she saw that it was Harry Potter her face went white and she slowly turned and closed the door. "Explain yourself right now young man. I may not have a wand but the truth is I don't really need one anymore. Who are you?"

"You can see for yourself who I am Ma'am. Trust your eyes."

"You can't be Harry Potter. He was murdered three weeks ago by that madman Voldemort."

"You're right to be suspicious. Call your grandson to us and have him ask me a question that only he and I would know. I'm sure he can think of something. In the meantime, now that the initial shock of seeing me has passed I'm going to give you my wand. Let's call it an act of good faith." He lowered his hand from her temple and handed the wand to her. She quickly took it but didn't turn it on him. Instead she placed it on a small table by the door.

"Neville, please come to the front door," she said quietly. There must have been some sort of enchantment on the house allowing everyone to hear her when she said their name because a few minutes later Neville came down the stairs. He had a glass of water in his hand and quickly dropped it on the floor when he saw Harry.

"Neville, this young man claims to be Harry Potter. I need you to ask him a question, one that only you and Harry would know the answer to. If he can answer it correctly we will go from there."

Neville's shock quickly wore off as he realized the gravity of the situation. He tried to think of something only he and Harry would know. "In our first year you, Ron, and Hermione were sneaking out in the middle of the night. Who shot a spell at me, what was that spell, and why?"

"Hermione hit you with a full body bind because you told us you wouldn't let us out since we had already lost so many house points."

"What do my parents give me when I visit them?"

"They give you candy wrappers."

"How long did me and Hermione date each other before we decided the secret was too hard to keep so we broke it off?"

"You and Hermione never dated. That should be enough don't you think?"

"Oh I knew it was you the second you walked through the door it was just fun to ask you the questions," Neville said with a grin as he walked over and embraced his friend. "I thought you were dead mate. Don't ever do that to me again alright?"

"I can't make any promises," Harry said with a laugh. "I need your help Neville."

"Let's go upstairs to my room, we can talk there," Neville said and practically drug Harry behind him. Neville had become quite strong from all those years of carrying around fifty extra pounds. Now that he had lost most of it he still had the power needed to propel it from point A to point B, he just didn't need it anymore.

Neville's room was large but sparsely decorated. There was nothing in the room that wasn't necessary for its function. He had a single bed in the center of the room, a chest of drawers against the wall and a large wardrobe in the corner. Against another wall were two winged back chairs with a small table between them. The room was so clean it would have made Aunt Petunia jealous.

"Neville, why is the room so bland? There isn't anything to suggest that this is your room at all and not just some guest bedroom."

"You know me Harry, I hate to be indoors. I spend all my time out in the garden," Neville pointed out the window at the garden below. It seemed to stretch out forever and was surrounded by greenhouses. Strange plants that seemed to move with a mind of their own would occasionally surround other plants that he swore were shaking with fear.

"So what can I do for you Harry?" Neville asked as he sat down in one of the chairs and gestured for Harry to do the same. Harry sat down and told Neville everything. He told him about the Horcruxes and about Draco. More importantly he told him about the fight in the graveyard and how everyone now thinking him dead could be a decisive tactical advantage.

"So that brings us up to the purpose of my visit. Right now the Order estimates Voldemort has around five hundred followers. There are only about 200 in the Order. I have decided to call in the DA. We need to help but we won't be joining. We will be our own separate entity but we will work with them. Our plan is to take back the school and then worry about the village. Hopefully once we take back the school some of the villagers will turn against Voldemort and make the town a little easier to take."

"You know you can count on me Harry. How many of the others have you already talked to?" Neville asked.

"You're the first one. Hermione is talking to Luna right now. Without the two of you I don't think we can pull this off," Harry told him honestly. Neville looked at him and grinned from ear to ear. He had never felt important in his entire life until just then. The great Harry Potter, a friend he had idolized for as long as he had known him, thought he needed him in order to win the fight.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Harry and Neville appeared through the fireplace of the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. They were about to go into the kitchen and scare up something to eat when Hermione opened the door and grabbed Harry. She had a relieved look on her face as though she had been hoping to see him. "Oh, thank Merlin you're here Harry. Luna's in the kitchen. She wants to help but I haven't told her the plan or that you're alive. I realized only after you left that the subject would have to be breached but wanted to leave it to you."

"Alright Hermione I'll go tell her. You two go in first and I'll follow," Harry said. Hermione and Neville looked at each other and shrugged. They went through the door with Harry right behind them. Luna just looked over at them and smiled.

"Hello Neville, it's pleasant to see you again. Harry, I was wondering when you would quit acting like you were dead. It wasn't a very nice thing to do you know. I cried when I heard but then a humpbacked gnarglefly told me that you had only been wounded. Don't worry though I didn't tell anyone, I figured you had your reasons," Luna said not quite looking at the people she was talking too. She always had a way of acting that made you actually wonder if she was talking to you or the person behind you. She was wearing her usual radish earrings but not the butter beer cap necklace. For his part Neville looked completely engrossed with what she had to say.

"Luna, what's a humpbacked gnarglefly?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

She looked over at Neville as though he were stupid, as though everyone knew and regularly conversed with, humpbacked gnargleflies. "They're the little green flies that live in the woods near a dragon's cave. You really should pay more attention to your surroundings Neville; you don't seem to know much about the creatures in our world." Hermione rolled her eyes and opened her mouth about to speak when Harry cut her off.

"Well, that's interesting and all Luna," Harry said, "but it's not why we asked you here. Hermione, how much did you tell Luna?" he asked.

"Not much. I told her that Ron and I were putting the DA back together since there wouldn't be school again anytime soon. I told here that we could teach each other new spells and help each other keep in practice."

"Not a bad idea. That's how I want the three of you to pitch it to the rest of the members. Of course the twins already know but invite them to the initial meeting along with everyone else you can find," he said as he began to pace the room. This was starting to come together now.

"I don't think we should do this here Harry," Hermione said. "There is already too much going on here for us to use this as our headquarters."

Harry looked around the room and finally settled on sitting down. "What did you have in mind then?" he asked.

"I took the liberty of talking to Abe. He says that his home is open to us and you know as well as I do that it's perfect. It has lots of space and the grounds are perfect for training."

"You really are brilliant Hermione," Harry replied with a grin. "I need the three of you to gather as many DA members as you can and meet me there tomorrow at noon. Make sure that everyone is trustworthy. If you have any doubts at all we don't need them. Once you brought them to Dumbledore Manor I will personally reveal to them that I'm not dead and that we need their help for this to work."

"That's not a lot of time Harry. We need to track most of these people down and a lot of them are in hiding. By tomorrow we will probably only have about twenty. We'll need at least four days," Hermione added.

"Do the best you can then. Gather whatever you can between now and tomorrow and I will begin training with them while you look for the rest."

The group of friends exchanged their goodbyes and Hermione, Neville, and Luna left the room. As they were leaving Remus came into the Kitchen and sat down.

"We need to talk Harry. The council has decided to bring you in on their best kept secret. Once you are informed of this you may only tell Ron and Hermione. For now you will have to keep this from Abe. Do you understand?"

"Sure Remus, what is it?"

"Percy is not a Death Eater. He has been working for us the whole time and he was planted by Dumbledore himself. He started acting out against you and his family at the request of Dumbledore so that he would not be suspected when he attempted to gain admittance to the Death Eaters. Almost everything you know about the personality of Percy is a lie."

Harry just looked at Remus with a stupid look on his face. This had totally blindsided him. A thousand different possibilities ran through his mind at once. What if he had run into Percy at some point and killed or seriously injured him?

"Who all knows about this?" Harry asked.

"Just the council, myself, and now you and if you choose to tell them your friends will know. The Weasley's were not told and honestly believe their son is a traitor. Snape was never told either, thank Merlin, or Percy would probably be dead now." Remus stood up and walked over to the kitchen sink. "Harry we tried to tell you earlier but you disappeared. My intention was to inform you just before you were to face Voldemort in case Percy showed up but you left without a word."

"In a way I'm relieved Remus. So the rest of the Order doesn't know? Shouldn't they be told so they don't try to kill him themselves?" Harry asked.

"It's part of the dangers that go along with the job Harry. If the others treated him any differently than they do the other Death Eaters that would put him in more risk than if they were throwing hexes at him."

"I see your point. Have you been able to get anything useful out of him lately?" Harry asked.

"As a matter of fact we have. He sent us a message just this morning saying that Voldemort would be leaving the castle for the first week of next month and would be out of communication with his Death Eaters. They do not know where he is going nor will they have any way to contact him. We see this as the perfect opportunity to take the castle back. With him away the castle will be even less defended than usual and we can recapture and occupy it without having to worry about him interfering. Once we have the castle we prepare for his return, a castle is after all a pretty easy place to defend."

"OK Remus I agree. When do you think that you and the others will have the plan figured out?"

"Well right now we're still going over the different possibilities and trying to decide on a course of action. Once we have that it shouldn't be much longer. Another three or four days we should have something to look at even if it's not finished," Lupin said.

"Good, if we're going to do this early next month that only leaves us with about twenty days to prepare. I'm not trying to hurry you Remus but we need that plan soon so we know how to train."

"We'll get it out as soon as we can Harry."

hr 

Harry appeared in Abe's home with a loud crack. He had already mastered apparating without making any noise but since he was arriving unannounced he thought it would only be polite to make a little noise. He looked around the living room and made his way to the kitchen where he found Abe sitting at the table with a pot of tea and two cups.

"Harry what a pleasant surprise, would you care for some tea?" he asked while gesturing to the pot and cups on the table.

"Thank you I would. How are the plans progressing?" Harry asked as he took a seat and wordlessly levitated the pot to pour two perfect cups.

"They are progressing nicely. The intelligence that Remus was able to get will make things a lot easier. Knowing that Voldemort will not be there helps the cause greatly."

"That's good; I want to thank you for making your home available to me and my friends while we train for this mission. It means a lot to me," Harry said sincerely. He had a lot to thank the old wizard for and this just added to the list.

"Think nothing of it my young friend. I am pleased to assist this cause any way that I can. I'm sorry that I have not come to see you since you recovered, I have been very busy."

"What have you been up to? We didn't ask you to work on these plans until a couple of days ago."

Abe grinned and took a sip of his tea. "I have been trying to figure out why you are still alive. I think I may have come up with a fairly viable theory. How much do you know about Lily's parents?"

Harry thought about it for a minute and realized that he knew very little about them. "Not much, just what Petunia has told me. She didn't like them very much."

"That's a shame, they were good people. Your grandfather was a doctor Harry. He was one of the first to go into the field of genetics when he was a young man and every time we talked all he did was ramble on about how certain genetic codes can prevent a person from becoming ill. He spent his life trying to find the right code needed in order to help cure cancer."

"I didn't know that," Harry replied.

"Well I was thinking the other day about your grandfather and the things he used to talk about and I believe that you may have developed an immunity to the effects of the curse. You were hit with the curse as a child shortly after the amulet transferred its powers into you. When it did that it basically changed who you are by providing you with additional magical powers. It is very possible that during this change you were hit with the curse so your body provided you with additional protection from it. Think of it like the chicken pocks. Once you have had it you are very unlikely to contract it again."

Harry looked at him for a few minutes while he tried to make sense out of what he was being told. "All I really know about muggle science is what I learned in school before coming to Hogwarts. It sounds good though."

"Yes it does doesn't it?" Abe replied with a smile. "I also believe that every time that you are hit with the curse the effects will become less and less traumatic. Unfortunately the only way to test the theory is to actually subject you to the curse and if I am wrong, well that could prove rather fatal."

"I think for now we will just consider it a theory and leave it at that," Harry said with a smile.

"There is one other thing I would like to talk about Harry. I have a feeling that your little organization will eventually be as large as the Order. I actually believe that it will eventually take the place of the Order but that remains to be seen."

"I don't know Abe; I doubt many people will be willing to follow me into any kind of a battle. Everyone is scared to death."

"You will be surprised then when they all show up. Mark my words Harry, once the school is recaptured and word spreads that you are not dead you will have people volunteering off the streets. I believe that you will need a permanent headquarters and unless you are planning on throwing the order out on the streets you will be without one. I would very much like to volunteer my home as that headquarters. This place is more than large enough and the grounds provide ample room not only for training but for expansion. My only condition is that I be allowed to remain on not only as a resident but as an honorary member of this perfectly named organization. Nothing would make me more proud than to be a founding member of Dumbledore's Army."

"I don't know what to say. Of course you can be a member, in fact I already considered you one. Are you sure about this though?"

"I doubt I have ever been this sure about anything in my life. And I have lived a very long life Harry," he said with a chuckle.

"Thank you. This would be a perfect place for the headquarters."

"Excellent. I will begin making a few modifications to make it more suitable for its new use. For example, I don't remember the last time I used the ballroom. It would make an excellent meeting room. I will have the house elves put in a large table and remove some of the more colorful decorations."

They spent the rest of the day making changes to the house to more effectively serve as their headquarters. Harry was astounded to learn that the house not only had the extensive library that he had seen on several occasions but a ballroom the size of a standard football field, a very large dining room, and thirty five bedrooms. For the life of him he couldn't understand why anyone would need so many bedrooms but now that it was being used to house so many people he was glad they were there.

As the deadline for Hermione's return approached Harry couldn't help but feel that all they had done would be in vain. He was sure that she would return with no more than five or six people, including the Weasley twins. He was sitting in the library reading one of Abe's many books about muggle tactics when she finally arrived with a huge smile on her face.

"Well Hermione how many people did you manage to round up?" he asked skeptically.

"It was amazing Harry. Once we contacted the twins they insisted on gathering the members from their year. It seemed that everyone we contacted wanted to help gather people and before we knew what happened we showed up here today with 63 people," she said grinning from ear to ear. She was obviously quite proud of herself.

For his part Harry simply dropped the book he was reading and stared at her in disbelief.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The first official joint meeting of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army was held at Dumbledore Manor. The Ballroom had been converted into a meeting hall with a large round oak table. A model of Hogwarts Castle and the town of Hogsmeade was set up in the center of the table complete with miniature wizard models of Tonks, McGonagall, Moody, Remus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville. Seated around the table were the very people who were represented by their models. The drapes on all of the windows had been closed and the only light in the room came from a series of oil lamps charmed to float above the table. There were muggle MGRS (military grid reference system) maps of England all over the walls with pins stuck in them in certain places signifying recent battles.

McGonagall cleared her throat in a manner that only a teacher can master and everyone became quiet and gave her their full attention. "Well this is an impressive model you've built here Aberforth. I assume that you and the others have finished with your plan, is that correct?" She asked

"As usual Minerva your powers of deduction amaze even an old man such as I. If everyone would please direct your attention to Mr. Weasley he will be conducting this briefing," Abe responded with a wide grin on his face. He was quite proud of this plan and considered it one of the best he had ever taken part in planning.

Ron stood up and took out his wand. He pointed it at the small models of his comrades and muttering an incantation, brought them to life. They looked up at him for further instructions. "I believe that the genius of this plan lies in its simplicity. Our idea is to split our forces up into two groups. The first phase of the attack will be the main body and will attack Hogsmeade near the Shrieking Shack. This group would consist of the Order of the Phoenix as well as some of the DA members since we will not need many for our part of the plan. The Order attack is simply a diversion," Ron said directly to Professor McGonagall as he motioned the Order member's models to take the proper position on the model. "Once the Order has engaged the Death Eaters in Hogsmeade and it is determined that a sufficient number of them have left the castle they will send the signal to begin phase two."

It is traditional that when people from two different organizations develop a plan a representative is selected from each organization to brief the others role in the operation. This allows the people in the room to see that this plan is agreed upon by all those that developed it and that a spirit of cooperation exists. Remus stood up and began to explain phase two. "Phase two will be led by Harry and will consist of approximately thirty members of the DA, which he will be allowed to hand select." Remus waved his wand at the figures representing the DA and they quickly sprung to life and mounted broomsticks. "This force will infiltrate the castle by broomstick. They will approach from the East and land on the astronomy tower. Once inside the castle their mission is to go from room to room and clear the castle as best as they can. As soon as they determine that either the situation is under control or that the situation cannot be controlled they will signal the man body. If the situation is under control the main body must immediately apparate outside the gates and make their way into the castle to reinforce and defend it from the counter attack that the Death Eaters will surely launch. If Harry determines that the attack cannot succeed the main body should retreat back here and regroup. Now before I open this up for questions remember that this is a general outline of the plan. It's up to the separate commanders to determine the exact details of how they will make their phase work. What are your questions?"

Harry was the first to speak up, "What are my priorities in the castle? Where do you want me to start and what do you consider having the castle under control?"

Remus nodded and began to explain, "Well naturally you will have to start at the Astronomy tower and work your way down but once you have reached the ground floor we think you should fight your way to and secure the entrance. Once it's secure I would recommend leaving a small group of about five to make sure it stays secure and attack any Death Eaters that may be trying to return from the village. From there use your own discretion on where to go but don't consider it secure until you have cleared at least half of the castle. Once the main body arrives we can worry about the rest of it."

"What if Voldemort's in the castle?" Hermione asked.

"Then it's up to Harry to decide if the attack should continue. Anything to do with that phase of the operation will be based on Harry's judgment. If he says to retreat we will of course retreat," Ron replied.

Tonks was the next one to speak up. "What will the signals be for us to either join up with Harry's Platoon or retreat?" She asked.

"We hadn't actually worked that one out but I don't see why we shouldn't just use green sparks in the sky to signify that the operation is a go and red sparks to signify retreat," Abe said. Tonks nodded that she understood and asked another question.

"Should we just use green sparks to signal to Harry that we're in place and ready for him to begin his operation then?"

"Sounds good to me," Abe said.

"You've been awfully quiet tonight Moody, what are your thoughts?" Abe asked.

"I think it's a good plan but I don't know if it's a good idea to send Harry with such a small force. I was thinking we should send in forty one instead and then they can split up into groups of twenty and cover the ground quicker. I would recommend setting it up in a platoon formation; two squads of twenty with Harry serving as the Platoon Leader. It would cut down on time and provide additional wands to back each other up," Moody said.

Harry broke in just as Ron was about to speak up, "I agree with Moody, the more we take in there the better. I for one would feel better if I knew we had more people to back us up."

Everyone in the room began talking about the subject until it was finally agreed that Moody's idea would probably work better. They brought the meeting to a close and decided to meet again in one week to discuss any issues that may arise while preparing for their individual roles in the upcoming battle. As everyone was leaving Moody walked over and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I don't know rather to envy you or pity you boy. While the rest of us are out there fighting a losing battle you're going into the lions den, but that could prove to be the nastiest battle of them all. Make sure you practice kicking in doors and covering your sectors with your new recruits. You and the other two have it down but the rookies have probably never even thought about it."

Harry had just been thinking the same thought as Moody said it. He had one week to try the plan out and find any kinks that may arise. He learned from Abe earlier that same year that a plan never survives initial contact and he planned to try to think up everything that could possibly go wrong.

"Thanks Moody I was just thinking the same thing."

"Well make sure and use your resources as best as you can. Remember that Abe's a tactical genius. Ron and Hermione would make great trainers as well."

"Moody I don't know anything about setting things up like you suggested. What did you mean about a Platoon and Squads and stuff?" Harry asked.

"Well Harry there has to be some type of chain of command set up. If you're going to split up you need to be in charge of the whole group. The two groups that split up will need to have leadership that is in charge when they're away from you. The obvious choice would be Ron and Hermione. I would also recommend that you stay with the group at the main gate and set that up as a command post. The two squads can separate from you at that location and then they will know where you are if they need you for anything. You just have to remember not to over manage the squads, let them know what you want them to do but let them figure out how to do it themselves. If you need any more help talk to Abe, he's the one who taught all this stuff to me."

The two shook hands and Moody left. Once he was gone the only people left in the room were Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Abe. They all sat down and looked at the table.

"Ron, Abe, I must say that I am impressed. You came up with a brilliant plan that's not so complicated it will get us all killed," Hermione said. She was smiling as she said it and walked over and gave Ron a quick hug.

"Thanks Mione, we worked pretty hard on it."

"Well you two don't get too comfortable with each other, we need to talk. Moody brought up a few good points and we need to figure out how to work this. If we're going to break up into separate groups you'll each need to take charge of one."

Ron and Hermione just stared at each other. They hadn't considered the possibility that they may have to separate. Throughout everything they had all been through there had always been at least two of the three of them together at all times. Now they were planning to split up into three separate groups, this was unfamiliar territory.

"Ron, you take Luna as your second and Hermione, you take Neville. The twins will be in charge at the door if I need to leave. Sound good to you Abe?" Harry asked.

"And where do you intend for me to be during all of this Harry?" Abe asked.

"I didn't think you wanted to come along Abe?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world Harry. I would suggest that you keep me at the door with you. I have no desire to take charge of anything but I would be more than happy to assist you."

They spent the rest of the day working out squad rosters. Each squad would consist of twenty and the rest of the members would be going with the order to the attack on Hogsmeade. Once they arrived at the gate each squad would leave behind five with Harry to set up a command post and guard the entrance. At first they considered leaving Ginny with Harry but it was decided that she should go with Hermione to keep Harry from getting too distracted. If he saw her get hurt he would lose it.

The next day they would begin their training.

Authors Note: Sorry it took so long for me to post but I just got back from Afghanistan and have been spending some time with my wife and children. Caught an 8 pound bass and generally had a good time getting to know them again. I know that this chapter was short and kind of boring but it really sets things up for the next one which will be a pretty action packed training chapter leading up to the battle at Hogwarts. I hope you all can forgive me for the long absence and I promise to post on a more regular schedule from now on.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Harry was sitting on his broom watching as his team approached what appeared to be Hogwarts. Aberforth had once again set up his back yard to look like the scene of their future battle. As he watched the scene unfolding before him he could only shake his head and wonder about rather or not he was doing the right thing. Everyone on his team was so inexperienced, so young. True they were the same age as him but he felt like a lifetime of experience separated them. Some of them actually did have some experience. There were the ones that were there the night Albus had died. Most had merely hid in the towers but some had answered the call and assisted. Neville, Ginny, and Luna had been brave that night. He could always count on them to be brave; they were the foundation that kept the team solid. Then there was Ron and Hermione, his squad leaders. At first he was concerned that splitting them up would be a mistake and almost put Draco in charge of one of the squads, but while they were brilliant as a team, they were even better apart. They were constantly trying to show the other one up.

He spent a lot of time with Abe trying to figure out some type of command structure. They decided that getting too formal wouldn't fit with the group mentality that had worked so well in the past but at the same time someone had to be in charge if someone else were to fall. Harry was of course in overall command. What got tricky was trying to determine who would take his place if he were to fall. Ron and Hermione would both be busy commanding their individual squads and trying to shift from squad leader to commander is too much in the heat of a battle. In the end it was decided that Draco would be the next in line if Harry should fall. Naturally this caused a stir amongst some of the new recruits but it was quickly silenced during the initial rounds of training when he had more than proven himself capable and was filling more the role of a First Sergeant than an Executive Officer. He had personally taken charge of the training of the new recruits while the officers continued with the plans and coordinated with the Order.

"Ready for them to have another go at it Potter?" Draco asked as he flew up next to Harry. His usual robes had been replaced by khaki pants and a black sweatshirt. This had become the unofficial uniform of the group.

"Ready when you are Draco. It can't get any worse than the last drill," Harry replied. The first drill had been a disaster, and it had only slightly improved with the second. This was the third and Harry wasn't expecting it to get any better any time soon. The two squads weren't working independently enough and there was little teamwork within them. If they didn't get smart soon Harry was concerned that more drastic steps may have to be taken.

Draco nodded and pointed his wand into the air, shooting out several green sparks. A few seconds later two groups with about 18 witches and wizards in each of them started to appear in the distance. They were gaining rapidly on the castle and made a quick and easy dismount on the tower. That had been the easy part; they hadn't managed to mess that up yet. In the last run they had made a perfect landing but had turned the stairwell entrance into a choke point as they tried to all cram through at once. It was a mistake both Ron and Hermione had vowed never to make again.

Ron looked over at Hermione and gave the signal for her to begin clearing the stairwell. Without a word she gave the proper hand signals to Ginny who grabbed two short but stocky wizards. They made their way over to the door and swiftly kicked it open. As soon as it was open the first entered the room and scanned his way into the left corner, the next covered the right corner, and Ginny cleared the center of the room. Once she gave the signal the rest of them began to make their way into the tower until they had all disappeared from sight. This would be the most dangerous part of the mission. If they were attacked on the stairwell there was a good chance they wouldn't make it down to the first floor. Stairwells are natural choke points causing a one on one battle with whoever's on the other end. They may be able to take one or two Death Eaters out, but the strength in their attack was the surprise. If they lost that they would surely lose to the massive numbers the Death Eaters could throw at them. Losing by attrition is never pretty.

Harry and Draco made their way to the entry chamber and waited for the others to arrive. Once they were in place the fun would start.

Hermione was the first to round the corner with her wand drawn, ready to strike. She ignored Harry and Draco and immediately set her squad into a defensive perimeter. Once she had the entryway cleared she called for Ron's squad to join her. This is where Harry joined them. The plan was for Harry, Draco, the Twins, Aberforth, and Colin Creevey to remain in the entryway and set up a command post and essentially guard the backsides of the two squads. Once they were in place the squads would separate and begin clearing the ground floor. If one of them were to become overwhelmed they would send their patronus back to Harry (a little trick they had borrowed from the Order) who would signal the other to break off their attack and assist the other.

Harry gave his signal to Ron and Hermione and they took off down their respective corridors. He was surprised at how easily they had all adapted to going through the motions without using much vocal communication. They'd decided that it just slowed them down and if they could agree on some universal hand signals not only would it speed things up but it would help them save some of their breath.

Fifteen minutes after it all began Ron and Hermione both returned declaring the ground floor of the castle cleared. Phase one was complete. Of course it wouldn't go nearly so quick in real life when you had people shooting back at you but you could only prepare so much with training.

"Good job, a major improvement over the last time. Ron, how do you think your squad did?" Draco asked as he wiped some sweat from his brow.

"I think we did a lot better. Now that we have that problem solved up on the roof things went a lot smoother. I would be a lot more comfortable if we had something to shoot at but what can you do?" He replied with a grin, implying that he wouldn't mind taking a few shots at Draco. They had come to respect each other quite a bit but there would always be a little rivalry between them.

"Fat chance Weasley. What about you Granger, what do you think?"

"I think we should go over it again. The roof went a lot smoother but I still think it needs to be improved," She replied. No matter how smooth it went, she always said the same thing. She just didn't want to get caught unprepared, if she was going to go out it would be on the ground floor not in some damned staircase. Harry cut her off.

"No I think that's enough. We figured out the sequence and got it down to the point where we know what we're doing. Chances are we won't even get through the door before they start shooting anyway. I think the thing to do at this point is just to get everyone some time off. Tomorrow I want to run through this one more time but just us four and Ginny and Neville. Let everyone else rest, Draco's been taking it a little hard on them," he said with a smile. "Once that's done it's all over but the attack. Hard to believe it's only two days away."

hr 

The next day went off without a hitch and the last rehearsal had been a good one. Everyone knew their parts and could do them in their sleep. The only looming question was how some of the rookies would react when the spells being hurled at them were real and not just stunners. You never could tell who would toughen up after the first shot and who would run and hide. More often than not it was the biggest braggers that wound up crying in the corner, and the little quiet guy would wind up surprising you.

Later that evening Harry was sitting on the couch in Abe's den. Ginny was curled up in his lap and Ron and Hermione were in a similar posture on the couch across from them. They were at the same time completely at peace and more scared than they had ever been. After tomorrow, one way or the other, everything was going to change.

Abe cam into the room and sat down in a winged back chair facing the fire. It was the first time any of them had ever seen him with a drink in his hand. He looked at the four young people and smiled, remembering similar days in his youth. It was sad that these young men and women were forced to grow up so fast, but fortunate that they had risen so well to the challenge.

"It's been almost seventeen years since I had my last drink," he said with a smile. "It was never a problem but the only time I ever used to drink was when I knew I would be going into battle the next day. I don't think I can thank you enough for getting me out of that hole and giving me a reason to live again Harry."

Harry didn't know how to respond to that. Abe had done so much for him and now here he was thanking him. He was so much like his brother; it often hurt Harry just to look at him. But where the similarities started they also ended. These were two very distinct men who had both chosen different paths. Tomorrow, in the eyes of the entire wizarding world, Aberforth Dumbledore would finally redeem himself.

"I've been thinking," Harry said "that if your wife was my mother's aunt that makes you my Uncle doesn't it Abe?"

"It does Harry. Not related by blood but none the less family. Albus always though of you as family Harry and so have I. I made a mistake by not taking a larger role in your development and I apologize."

"You've more than made up for it. I couldn't ask for anything more than what you've already offered me."

"I feel the same way. And now it appears that I have finished my Brandy and will be taking my leave. An old man needs his rest when he knows the day ahead will be particularly long."

The four friends wished him goodnight and Ginny actually got up and kissed him on the cheek, causing it to turn bright red.

After he left the room they all settled back down into each others arms and fell asleep. There are two types of people in this world. Some people know that the events that await them are going to be horrific and will alter their lives forever. These people dread these events and can only think of the possible outcomes all night long, tossing and turning, getting little rest. Others know that what happens tomorrow isn't for them to decide. They can only prepare for the worst and hope for the best. These people sleep soundly knowing that they have done all they can to help them on their journey.

The four teenagers who planned to save the world slept like babies all night.

Authors Note: Once again I must apologize both for the shortness of this chapter and for the length of time it took me to get it posted. Hopefully this chapter filled in some of the gaps and prepares you for the next one which will feature the attack on the castle. As always I would like to thank those that have continually reviewed and helped me develop.


End file.
